Of Swings and Flowers and the Inconvenience of Swords in Lakes
by myotherpatronusisacar
Summary: AU in which Lily Potter (nee Evans) has a cousin who attends Hogwarts with her. Takes place during Harry's third year of Hogwarts with Sirius Black on the loose. Canon-ish up until this point. The revelation that Harry has always had an alternate guardian alters the course of events and might also change a certain potions professor's view of Mr. Potter. Eventual Severitus.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter slowly took in the glow of the candles suspended from the ceiling of night sky in the Great Hall, the aroma of pumpkin pasties, and deafening chatter of hundreds of students greeting each other after a long summer. Despite the brief respite in Diagon Alley that he enjoyed from the Dursleys towards the end of the summer, Harry knew at this moment that he was home.

He looked up at the head table. Professor Dumbledore, dressed in eye-watering bright yellow robes, was happily chatting with a stern-faced Professor McGonagall who was currently casting a wary eye towards the front of the Gryffindor table where Fred and George Weasley were conspiratorially huddled with Lee Jordan. Professor Lupin sat with a weary smile in his shabby robes next to her, looking slightly wistful at the crowd of students. Harry paused as he looked next to Professor Lupin. A woman that he had never seen before sat beside him in deep conversation with Professor Snape who looked as if he had swallowed a lemon. Harry was puzzled by this. He had assumed that Professor Lupin was the new Defense Against Dark Arts professor. Were they hiring two new professors this year? This woman cut an impressive figure next to the disheveled professor from the train. In sharp contrast to his worn robes, her robes were almost a shiny black, her dark hair was pulled back in an elaborate braided up-do. Harry watched as she rolled her eyes at something Snape had murmured and despite his sour look, Harry had never seen Snape speak this earnestly to any other adult that he could remember. There was also something about the woman that seemed vaguely familiar to Harry though he could not place this feeling and quickly shrugged it off. At that moment, the woman turned to look at Harry and smiled warmly at him. Harry smiled shyly in surprise and looked away. The kind of smile directed at him was one that he often witnessed when Mrs. Weasley greeted Ron or when Hagrid smiled at one of his many creatures. It was familial and Harry couldn't quite help but feel nervous in its presence. He had never had that kind of smile directed at him. His aunt and uncle had always greeted him with at best cold stares and curt nods and more often with their faces contorted in anger.

He turned to pay attention to Ron and Hermione, the latter of whom was excitedly going through all of the different subjects that she would be taking as the former shoved what seemed to be an impossible amount of mashed potatoes into his mouth. Unable to successfully catch what they were saying, he furtively glanced up again at the head table. The woman appeared to be directing some questions at Snape and motioning in Harry's direction. Snape, if possible, looked even more discomfited by the start of term feast than Harry had ever seen him and he cast a disdainful glance in Harry's direction while appearing to list what Harry imagined was a never ending list of Harry's faults. Arrogant, spoiled, reckless, just like his father…Harry could imagine Snape's sharp tone even though he could not hear the specific of the conversation. The woman seemed to furrow her brow in slight confusion. Harry let out an inaudible sigh. One teacher hating him was enough and though he did not realize it consciously, Harry felt a deep pang of disappointment at possibility of never being on the receiving end of a warm smile again.

"And of course we'll have to take divination though I've been through the book at least once and I haven't been able to see the value in it…" Hermione chattered on oblivious to her friends' preoccupations: Harry with his observations of the staff and Ron with the platters of food in front of them. They barely paid any attention to the sorting ceremony that was taking place around them.

Harry was spared from Hermione's umpteenth question about whether he had read any of the course materials for the following year when Dumbledore stood up with his usual twinkling eyes. Dumbledore tapped his goblet, the faint ring causing a hush amongst the excited crowd of students. He held his wand to his throat and declared in the most mild mannered tone, "Welcome back students to another year of Hogwarts and welcome first years to the start of your magical education! No doubt, you are all ready to be in your beds after such a wonderful and lavish feast but as always, there are few matters of importance to discuss. First and foremost, we would like to welcome our newest addition to our esteemed staff. This year, Professor Remus Lupin has graciously agreed to fill the vacancy of our Defense Against Dark Arts post."

A tepid applause filled the hall and Harry overheard snickers from the Slytherin table and Draco Malfoy's murmured comments about the state of Professor Lupin's robes. Hermione and Ron seemed to notice the head table for the first time in the evening. Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered "Who do you reckon that is next to Professor Lupin if he's the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher?" Harry shrugged. It seemed that many of the students had noticed the other addition to the table and were furiously whispering about who she could be if the only vacant position had been filled. Harry noticed that Professor Snape, who had long been known to covet the position, looked at Lupin with look of fury and loathing that even Harry had never received at his worst moments.

"Ahem" coughed Dumbledore mildly as his twinkling eyes took in the students in the hall. Another silence fell across the room. "Now on to more serious matters. As some of you are undoubtedly aware, there is the issues of Sirius Black." He seemed to gaze straight at Harry during this portion of his talk. "We at Hogwarts take your security extremely seriously and additional precautions have been added to ensure our students' safety. Due to this, the ministry has seen fit to install a special agent at Hogwarts this year. As a result, you will see Lady DuLac around the castle this year. She will be the head of the security here at Hogwarts. Students are advised to follow her instructions." Harry noticed that some of the Slytherin students seemed to furiously whisper at the mention of her title and even Ron looked awe-struck. The Lady merely nodded her head in acknowledgement and gazed around the room. Harry elbowed Ron and asked "err..am I missing something?"

Ron nodded, "I've heard about her from my dad before. She doesn't work for the Ministry but is a liason…something to do with the muggles…but I reckoned she was some kind of unspeakable. Anyways, I've heard that even the minister has to defer to her decisions."

Harry did not know what an unspeakable was but figured that if the Slytherins looked impressed and if this woman had some kind of rapport with Snape, then she must be a witch from some kind of ancient pure-blood line with a lot of power in the ministry. Harry never liked anyone that the Slytherins respected and quickly decided that despite her initial appearance of warmth towards him, that she must be as haughty and unpleasant as the rest of the house. In fact, he observed her expression and found it to be quite cold and arrogant. He noticed that she barely acknowledged attempts on the part of Lupin to engage her in discussion. Harry determined that she would not be worth his notice.


	2. Chapter 2

After a disastrous class with Trelawney which resulted in continuous pitying looks from Pavarti and Lavender and snickers from the boys in his year, Harry was very much looking forward to the next class that would take his classmates attention from him. After the fifth reenactment by Dean and Seamus of his death prophesy at lunch, Harry stood up and left the hall with the excuse that he had to get his books before defense. Unlike the past two years, Harry found himself looking forward to defense. Professor Lupin seemed to understand some things about the subject based on the experience with the dementor on the train. Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he did not realize that he had bumped into another person until he found himself falling backwards only to find a hand steadying him.

"Alright, there Harry?"

Harry readjusted his glasses and looked at the figure in front of him. He slowly took in Lady DuLac looking at him in slight concern. In the past few days, Harry had not seen her much around the castle. Other students mentioned that she patrolled the perimeter of the grounds and once, George and Fred had come back to the common room at a reasonable hour, looking uncommonly abashed.

"Yeah I'm fine…" Harry muttered, remembering his previous estimation of the Lady. Still, he could not help but feel slightly curious, given that she did not seem to either be awestruck of Harry as the boy-who-lived or loathe him based on the same status.

"Good…well then. I suppose you have classes to get to?" The Lady seemed to reach towards the top of Harry's head but pulled her hand away after what seemed to be an apparent moment of indecision.

"Yeah…I've got defense…"

"Lovely, I was just heading that way myself. Professor Lupin requested my presence for the lesson."

Harry wondered what lesson could possibly have the need of the head of security but felt it wise not to say anything. Unwanted memories of the doxy pixies from his disastrous second year class with Lockhart came to mind.

"Are you enjoying your year so far?" The Lady scanned the hallway and seemed slightly uncomfortable in Harry's company. This confused him to no end. Why would she care about his year, more importantly, why would any Slytherin bother to speak to him if they weren't insulting him?

"Erm…yeah I guess…we've only had divination and potions so far though…I wouldn't say that they're my best classes."

The Lady let out a small laugh. "I rather gathered from what Professor Snape has told me." She raised one eyebrow and smirked at Harry.

"Yeah well…it's not like I have much of a chance." Harry muttered.

"No, I suppose not…Professor Snape can be rather…set in his ways."

Harry couldn't help but look up curiously at this new adult. No one, not even Dumbledore, had ever agreed with him when he called Snape unfair, but then he reminded himself, no other adult had ever conversed with Snape at length. Was she waiting for him to agree so that she could berate him? Harry could never be sure of the intentions of the adults around him.

The Lady continued, "It seems that he has come to an unfortunate impression of you, which thus far, I haven't been able to make out."

"Oh." Harry had no idea how to respond.

She seemed to hesitate but seemed to come to a decision, "I believe that some people have the unfortunate tendency of comparing young people to their parents. I try to separate the two but I can see why people do so to you, you do look like your father but…"

"I have my mum's eyes, I know…"

"More than that…you have her mannerisms. Lily used to clench her jaw when she was uncomfortable much like the way you are doing so at this moment."

"You knew my mum?" Harry couldn't hide his curiosity at this point. Many people had spoken to him about his mother but they all spoke of her only in reference to his father. The only things that he had gathered about Lily Potter was that she was head girl when his father was head boy and he had her green eyes.

"I did indeed. You see, we were cousins…which I guess makes us second cousins I believe?"

"What?!" Harry stopped abruptly. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he had family apart from the Dursleys. However, his feelings of surprise and hope were quickly replaced with anger. If he had other family members, why was he left with the Dursleys? As stern as the Lady appeared, she did not seem to detest his very existence the way that his aunt Petunia did. She even talked about his mother in a way that was almost wistful. Harry wondered briefly if they had been close.

"I'm assuming that you've never been told about me?" Her left eyebrow was raised again and Harry wondered whether this was something she did often or whether these looks were solely reserved for him. She chuckled softly and shook her head. "I suppose it was too much to hope that a young boy such as yourself would have noticed letters from distant relatives. I forget that there is so much to pay attention to when you're young and I'm sure that your family members were not quite as strict as my grandmere was on the matters of returning correspondence…" She seemed to be lost in thought.

"But I never received any letters!" Harry blurted out. He was in shock. It felt like the cruelest joke to Harry. Someone had cared enough in his first eleven years of life to write to him, someone had noticed his existence before he was a wizard but how had he not gotten any indication. This must be a trick. She was just waiting for the moment that he believed her so that she could call him arrogant for expecting anything. That's how it always was with Uncle Vernon, Dudley, and even Snape. They would say things to elicit a reaction and then mock him for said response. The anger was back full-force and frustratingly, Harry found that his eyes getting warm.

The Lady looked puzzled. "Surely you must have. I sent you several gifts as well over the year on your birthday? I had thought of inquiring whether you had received them from your relatives but I never got their names. I assumed you were staying with obscure muggle relatives of the Potters so perhaps that's why none of my gifts had made it, but surely they would have known that they were raising a wiz-"

"Potter relatives?! You mean that I had other relatives?!" By this point, Harry was starting to hyperventilate.

"W-well I don't know for sure but I had just assumed…" She looked slightly uncomfortable at this admission.

"I was left with people who didn't care about me at all! And everyone knows that! Dumbledore knows! They hate me and magic! The Dursleys didn't want me to come to Hogwarts!" Harry yelled. At this point, his head began to spin.

"Harry…" The Lady placed a hand on his shoulder and maneuvered him over to a small alcove where she had him sit. "Harry, I did not mean to upset you. What do you mean that they did not care for magic? Surely, you can't mean…" Her eyes narrowed. "Your relatives…what are their names?" Her voice was hard and cold. Harry wondered if this was what inspired awe even amongst the Slytherins.

"The Dursleys…like I said."

"First names, Harry" Her tone was soft but firm.

"Petunia and Vernon Dursley."

"I think you should be excused from your classes today, Harry. We are taking a trip. There is someone that I need to speak to."

"What?" Harry barely registered that she took hold of his arm and with a pop, he suddenly found himself in the last place he would want to be at the moment—in front of Snape's office door.

Harry looked dazedly around the Snape's cramped office. He had never enjoyed being in this particular man's office not in the least because every time he found himself in the dark room adorned with slithery objects that sat pickling in jars, it was due to the man's ire and seemingly deep loathing of Harry. Despite all of those memories of being berated by the man, Harry had never felt as uncomfortable in this office as he did at this moment. The Lady had unceremoniously pushed Snape's door open. Harry wondered again at their relationship as he could not imagine anyone ever having the audacity to enter Snape's domains without knocking. Currently, the lady in question had her hand firmly on Harry's shoulder, preventing his escape from the awkward situation.

Snape sat at his desk. He appeared to have been working. However, the expression on his face showed no indication at having been disturbed by the intrusion. Instead, he drawled casually, "Lady DuLac…and Mr. Potter" He eyed Harry with disdain. "To what do I owe the dubious pleasure of this visit?"

Lady DuLac looked livid. Her jaw was set and her grey eyes flashed dangerously. Harry wondered for a moment about which of the two adults in the room he would prefer to have their anger directed at him. After a brief consideration, he concluded that despite Snape's biting remarks and look of displeasure every time he saw him, Harry would much rather face the man's tirades to the current look of murder on Lady DuLac's face.

"How dare you?" She whispered. Her voice was low and cold. "You knew the whole time? Tell me you didn't know, Severus or I swear…."

Snape furrowed his brow. Obviously, whatever he had prepared himself for, he had not planned for this line of questioning. Snape threw a quick glance at Harry before replying calmly. "I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about Cressida. Perhaps if you spoke sensibly, I would?"

"Petunia. Harry was sent to live with her. Did you know? Because if you did know this whole time that he was sent to live with that shrew and her beast of a husband instead of people who could have cared for him…" Harry was confused. Why would Snape know about his living situation? Why did his distant relative care? Part of Harry felt warm by the protectiveness expressed by his new-found relative but part of him felt the same anger he had expressed in the hallway. Why hadn't anyone bothered to check in the last 13 years? Why did he have to find out about the details of his parents death by a crazed murderer escaping from Azkaban?

Snape's expression was unscrutable. "I was informed that Mr. Potter was spoiled…lavished by his relatives in fact…I had not thought…"

"Did you even think to ask him?" The lady released her hold on Harry and sat in one of the hard-backed chairs in front of Snape's desk. The fight seemed to have gone out of her. Instead, she looked exhausted.

Harry could bear it no longer. "Ask who? I don't understand! I thought that Aunt Petunia was my only living relative and Dumbledore"

"Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Potter. The rules still apply to you whether or not you have been pampered…" Snape sharply interrupted.

"STOP IT!" Yelled Harry. "That's all you do isn't it? Everyone else knows about the boy-who-lived except for me! Everyone knows more about my parents than I do! Apparently, I'm invisible in a room even when it's about me!"

Snape seemed to have scathing reply off the tip of his tongue based on the livid look on his face, however, Lady DuLac held up her hand. "Harry, I apologize. I quite forgot myself in this discovery.."

"Err…that's alright I guess…" Harry never had an adult apologize to him before and didn't know quite how to respond.

Snape looked at Harry with a curious expression as if he was looking at a very perplexing potions ingredient. Harry had seen that look before, often it was directed at Neville's cauldron, seconds before something occurred to make it melt or explode. Harry quickly realized that he much preferred Snape's look of loathing. The scrutiny made him uncomfortable.

Suddenly, Lady DuLac let out a small gasp and looked at one of the bangles on her arm. Harry had not noticed the bangles before. There were a few in various different jewel tones adorning her left wrist. Currently, a pale blue one was slightly glowing. She looked at Professor Snape. "Someone has crossed one of the perimeters…but this isn't a full breach…I will need to check the wards on the grounds."

Snape looked at her and curtly nodded. "Shall I alert the headmaster?"

"Perhaps not quite yet. It could be nothing." To Harry's surprise, she popped into thin air. Harry had only seen Dobby do anything remotely similar.

"Is it Sirus Black, sir?" Harry turned to Snape.

Snape seemed to notice that Harry was still in his office. "It's not your place to question the inner workings of the Hogwarts staff, Potter. Now, if you could leave my office. You've already intruded once on my privacy or do you consider…" Snape paused mid-sentence. "Just leave, Potter." He waved his hand dismissively.

Harry did not need telling twice to quit the man's presence. However, only after he was halfway down the corridor, did he notice that the man had sounded more tired than angry, which was a first for Harry.

Harry's head was spinning with the events of the day. He thought about heading straight towards the common room to speak with Ron and Hermione and tell them about his discovery. However, another part of him wanted to keep this to himself. He wondered if they would understand the significance of it. At best, Ron would talk about how this might allow Harry to go into Hogsmeade. At worst, he would talk about whether or not it was a trick from the Slytherins. Ron's negative view of Slytherins and anyone associated with the house was unwavering. News had spread about the lady throughout the student populace and the general public knew that she had been in Slytherin during her time at Hogwarts. The thought had crossed Harry's mind but the joys of being able to visit the wizarding village seemed to pale in comparison about the implications of him having a new relative. Would this mean that he would get to leave the Dursleys? Based on Lady DuLac's reaction to finding out that he was staying with the Dursleys, Harry doubted that she would allow him to go back there. However, Dumbledore had always emphasized the importance of his return to his unpleasant relatives and Dumbledore was always right.

A sudden thought hit Harry. Dumbledore would have known of Lady DuLac. In that case, why was he not placed with her to begin with? Harry had so many questions. He wondered if he should bring these questions to Hermione. Then again, her logic and complete deferment to the words of professors always grated on him. No doubt, she would urge him not to question Dumbledore's motives. Perhaps, Harry thought, he could go ask the old wizard himself. Harry did not know if he would get a straight answer. Dumbledore had never really answered Harry's questions. Another idea crossed Harry's mind and he almost snorted out loud at it. Snape seemed to know both the lady and that he had been placed with some relatives. Maybe he had a sense of why Harry's other relative was not contacted. Harry stopped in his tracks. Snape didn't ask questions when the lady mentioned Petunia's name. Did he know his aunt? More importantly, did he know his mother?! Harry knew that Snape hated Harry's father but what if it was more than that? What if he hated Harry because she had died for him? Harry recalled her voice from the horrible memory he had experienced on the train. Lily Potter had died to protect her son. Her sacrifice caused Harry to do miraculously terrifying things like burn possessed odorous professors with his bare hands.

Harry thought about the events of his past few years at Hogwarts and deep unfamiliar feeling of resentment rose up in him. It felt incredibly unfair that he had been expected to face Voldermort not once but twice and all because adults didn't believe him. It struck Harry with the fiercest irony that this time around, no one considered that he might want to know about Sirius Black, that he could confront Voldermort's emaciated right-hand man when he had defeated his supposed master twice. A nagging voice reminded Harry that he had only defeated a weird garlic-smelling shade and a memory but he felt the indignity of the situation nonetheless.

Harry arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady and muttered "Figaro" as she swung open. Upon entering the common room, he noticed Fred and George excitedly testing new sweets in the corner as steam poured out of the ears of first years. Ron sat at a table with Seamus, Dean, and surprisingly Neville. They looked to be talking about some event that had all of them laughing loudly. Harry wondered if this had anything to do with the defense class that he missed. Feeling suddenly quite exhausted and on the verge of headache, he opted to quietly sneak up to the third year boys' dormitory.


	3. Chapter 3

Severus Snape listened to the sound of the boys' retreating footsteps. Tiredly, he rubbed his temples. The Potter brat was always causing trouble. He had been, for once, enjoying the year at Hogwarts despite the unwelcome addition of the mangy wolf on the staff. He had an ally in the return of a friend, perhaps his only friend if you didn't count Albus and Severus was not sure that he counted Albus as a friend despite the older wizard's constant involvement in his life. More importantly, he finally had the opportunity for intelligent conversation that was often sorely lacking amongst the Hogwarts staff. It was fair to say that Severus did not invite conversation with his scathing remarks and permanent scowl but it wasn't his fault that the mindless chatter of "Britain's finest wizarding institution" failed to live up to that promise. The only person he could slightly tolerate was Flitwick and apparently he squeaked and fell off his books while announcing Potter's name. Hardly dignified for a first rate duelist who, more importantly, knew that Harry Potter would be in the first year class of Gryffindors that day.

Speaking of Potter, there were few children that Severus could tolerate less than the arrogant, good-for-nothing, carbon-copy of the reckless bully that James Potter was. Scowling, he thought over the events of the afternoon. He had been quietly if not somewhat peacefully (well as peaceful as cursing terrible handwriting and suffering the clumsy analogies of dunderheads ever got) grading his second year student essays that he had assigned over the summer when Cressida had barged in with none other that the miserable excuse of a student. Once he saw Mr. Potter's face, he knew that either the boy had complained about his failure to bow to Potter's whims and misguided sense that the world was at his beck at and call, or that he had gotten in trouble for lurking somewhere he did not belong. In either case, Severus was ready to tear into Potter and list his numerous misdeeds. He was appalled, therefore, when Cressida began to berate him for his supposed lack of oversight of Potter's care. As if he didn't have enough on his plate ensuring that the spoiled brat survived his time at Hogwarts! Why would he care where the no-good bane of his existence resided at other times during the year? He was sure that Potter had lots to complain about his muggle relatives. Nothing was ever good enough for him.

However, as he replayed the events of the afternoon while summoning a glass and bottle of Firewhiskey, he remembered that Cressida had been furious that Potter had been placed with Petunia. This fact, in itself while unanticipated, was not as troubling for Severus as it was for Cressida. After all, he smirked, Cressida had the tendency to be overdramatic. However, he also wondered if Petunia had the ability to maintain her jealousy of Lily after all these years. All he could remember was her insistence on normalcy but that would prevent any mistreatment of their resident celebrity, right? In fact, she might have even taken him down a peg or two which was perfectly fine in Severus' opinion.

Severus though carefully on what other staff members said during meetings. As much as he tried to tune them out, his spying days during the first war had left him with unbreakable habits and unfortunately, he did often remember the things that his colleagues mentioned no matter how trivial, inane, or utterly irrelevant. He remembered a disagreement when Hagrid had been first dispatched to fetch the boy when his letters had failed to reach him. At the time, Severus did not think much about why the letters did not reach the boy. He assumed that Dumbledore had merely underestimated his wards or that Potter was simply above responding to the Hogwarts letter. Hagrid seemed oddly disgruntled by the whole affair which was unusual given Hagrid's baseline of oblivious cheer but again, Severus had again chalked it up to the boy and his impact on others. Lord knows that Severus would have been driven mad by the 11-year-old's antics and questions. But then again, Severus recalled with a grimace, he was not Hagrid and unlike himself, Hagrid appeared to have an endless tolerance for the dunderheadedness of young students. He had never even raised his voice (well at least if you counted Hagrid's booming voice as his normal volume) at the hellspawn Weasley twins despite their numerous attempts to enter the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid had complained about the muggles who had lived with Harry and mentioned that he had to visit a shack to retrieve the boy. He remembered thinking at the time that the term "shack" referred to how Hagrid viewed Muggle homes. However, now that he reflected, Hagrid's own state of lodging, while cosy, would have hardly caused Hagrid to judge others. Perhaps, Potter had been found in a shack, but that could be due to some ill-conceived camping expedition. Hagrid had said something that stuck with Severus, though, before he was quickly interrupted by Dumbledore. What was it? Oh yes, Hagrid had almost sobbed at one point, stating "Tol' him that James and Lily Potter died in a car accident, they did! Can yer believe that? A car accident?! James and Lilly Potter..." Severus had thought about why Potter was told about this as a reason for his parents death and had resolved to ask Dumbledore about it but the opportunity had never arisen. He sighed. Perhaps he had misjudged the boy's home situation but then again, given the boy's reckless behavior and defiant attitude in his classroom, he doubted that the muggles were mistreating him. More likely, they simply let the boy get away with things than put up with him. That was why the boy had no boundaries or self-control. Severus was satisfied with his conclusion.

A quiet pop brought him out of his reverie. Wordlessly he summoned another glass and filled it with Firewhiskey and offered it to Cressida who now sat in front of him, looking confused and a little exhausted. "No luck, I presume?" It was more of a statement than an answer.

She nodded in thanks and she took the glass and smirked as she took a sip. "A little early to start drinking isn't it? Don't you have classes that you need to teach?"

Severus smirked in response. He replied, "And yet you appear to be drinking on the job. I only have my NEWT students this afternoon and they will be working on researching their independent projects in the library today."

She chuckled, "How convenient."

"I take it that I do not have to inform the Headmaster that Black has been apprehended and is currently en route to an actual secure facility?" He asked.

She sighed. "No, unfortunately, I did not see a trace of him when I went to look. It was curious. My wards are set to detect the instant that he crosses the perimeter. Therefore, I have to assume that the has breached the grounds but has some means of avoiding detection. However, he has not crossed the perimeter past Hagrid's hut so I have to assume that he somewhere between in the middle of the Forbidden Forest and the stone wall behind Hagrid's hut."

Severus scowled. "Too large of an area to do a _hominus revelo,_ then."

"That's the curious thing. I cast that a few times but the Aurors cast that around the Azkaban area when he first escaped and that also yielded no results. At the time, I thought that this was due to their incompetence..."

"A logical conclusion," Severus supplied.

"Yes..." Cressida nodded, "But at the same time, I tried several other detection spells and my wards are set up so no wizard can breach them...I wonder if Black is cleverer than we are giving him credit for."

Severus scoffed. "That's unlikely. Black was always rash and reckless. His only talent lay in bullying and tormenting other students while inflicting his sob story on all authority figures."

"And yet, he bested Lily..."

Snape barred his teeth in anger. "You know that the only reason that he was able to trick her was because of Potter's stupidity and entitled attitude towards his safety!" Unwanted images of him finding Lily laying in the nursery came to mind and he almost slammed his fist on the desk. Instead, he settled for placing his tumbler on his desk with enough force that the contents almost sloshed out of the glass.

Cressida raised her eyebrow and rolled her eyes at this display. "Be that as it may, he is still dangerous and poses enough of a threat to get my agency's attention."

"I thought that your agency was only pulled in because of how our minister introduced the situation to the current prime minister and because his killing of Pettigrew was labeled a terrorist attack," Snape stated as he picked up his glass and swirled the contents discontentedly.

"That was some of it."

"When you mentioned you involvement, I took it for granted that you were assigned. How did you get roped into dealing with this mess? Couldn't you have just dispatched a member of your task force to the mundane assignment of watching a school full of children?" Snape asked. Now that he thought about it, he wondered why he hadn't asked her more questions in their frequent correspondence.

She directed a saccharine smile at him in response. "And why would I miss the opportunity to indulge in your cheery company?" This elicited a dry laugh from the man. She smiled in response and continued, "I am not above denying that this assignment as certain draws. Namely, if I find Black, he will be wishing for the Dementor's Kiss before I'm through."

"I can drink to that," stated Severus. He raised his glass and she responded in kind.


	4. Chapter 4

Severus sighed as he entered his quarters. Cressida had left shortly after their meeting in the office and thankfully, had not asked more questions about Potter's home life. He figured that if she did not ask any other questions, he would stop thinking on it. The afternoon's events, however, stirred up many unwanted memories, namely those of Lily. He anticipated this. Cressida and he barely spent time together in person. His teaching and spying duties did not coincide with her balancing of her family needs and her responsibilities as head of a task force to mitigate the impact of the wizarding world on the Muggle world. Therefore, apart from the occasional holidays in which he was invited to her manor in the south of France and frequent, for Severus at least, correspondence, they often went months without seeing each other in person. Again, he inwardly cursed Potter for the flood of memories which were usually carefully compartmentalized due to occlumency. During other times, it was easy to justify his negative feelings towards the boy as being due to Potter's similarities to his father, of which there were many. James Potter as an object of hate and repulsion was a much easier subject for Severus, especially given that he relied on showing these emotions as proof of his loyalty to the Dark Lord during his spying days. Lily was a different matter. It was difficult to cope with the immense feelings of guilt, anger, grief, and pain associated with her death. He summoned a house elf and asked for a cup of tea as he waved his wand to send a stack of potions essays his way.

As soon as he had taken his first sip of tea, his floo flared green. He groaned as he heard the voice of none other than Albus Dumbledore call his name. "Are you there? Might I step through?" Asked the older wizard as he stepped through the grate. Severus had long stopped responding to this greeting long ago once he understood that it often did not matter whether or not he gave the headmaster his permission.

"I assure you, Albus, the wolfsbane for your mangy, and might I mention, dangerous professor, is well on it's way. No, I will not sabotage the potion in any way as I do happen to care about the safety and general welfare of students, even though no one on this staff appears to..." Severus did not know why Albus had come through his floo but felt the need to voice his complaints and knew that he would not get a word in edgewise if he let Albus dominate the conversation from the get go.

In the meantime, Dumbledore had managed to obtain his own cup of tea and took the liberty of sitting down in one of Severus' armchairs by the fire, his eyes twinkling as he observed the potion master's obvious displeasure. Finally he coughed and interrupted Severus' tirade, "Not at all my dear boy, I'm sure the potion will be perfect and administered most amiably. I trust your good judgement."

Severus scoffed at this and rolled his eyes. He knew that Dumbledore rarely spared a moment to even listen to his opinion. He had been vociferous in his objections towards Remus Lupin's appointment to the Defense against Dark Arts post and as always they were unheeded by both Dumbledore and the rest of the Hogwarts staff. Minerva even had the nerve to say that she was "delighted that a sweet boy like Remus would have a chance to show his talents."

Albus continued, "In any case, my boy, I did not come here tonight to speak about Remus' potions. I merely came to speak with you about your opinions about Lady DuLac. It must be nice to have a friend in the castle after all these years. The two of you, if I remember, were rather inseparable during your time at Hogwarts. Until ah...what year was it that the lovely lady transferred?"

"Before fifth year," answered Severus curtly. The remark, 'one of the worst years of my life,' went unsaid. He was too tired to play guessing games as to why the headmaster decided to bring up these subjects and didn't bother pointing out that it was he, Lily, and Cressida who were often seen together. No one ever seemed to remember that the wonderful, unimpeachable, Gryffindor golden girl had ever associated with the likes of him. Cressida's sharp attitude and sorting in Slytherin had never particularly endeared her to staff members in the same way as Lily and therefore, she was deemed a much more fitting school-mate for Severus.

"Ah yes, to our French sister Beaxbatons. She must have fared well there to have ended up in such an esteemed position nowadays. I must say, I am rather surprised given her ancestry that she occupies such an office. However, I enjoy surprises. One can never have too many of them when you get to my age." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and he let out a short chuckle.

Severus concluded that the headmaster was merely fishing for information and let his prejudiced comments slide. Cressida's grandmother had started the task force and had raised her granddaughter to follow her footsteps. There had never been the same sort of pureblood fascination in her family, in fact, that kind of mindset had really only begun taking root at the beginning of the century in Britain. Things were quite different in France. In fact, he was sure that Cressida had explained that her ability to teleport herself (beyond the normal limits of apparition) came from being a descendent of some kind of elivish line. Dumbledore, being quite comfortable in his position in the Wizarding World and more specifically, Britain's wizarding society, was often limited in his knowledge of how international organizations interacted with the muggle world. As skilled of a tactician as Dumbledore was, his need to control all of the moving pieces limited him from anticipating all possible opportunities, especially those present in the muggle world and internationally. The Order of the Phoenix, therefore, comprised of brave and skilled but narrow-minded individuals, who saw the protection of muggles as secondary to defeating the influence of the Dark Lord and his followers on British wizarding society.

Severus took long sip of his tea before responding to the headmaster's unasked questions. "I believe that the Wizardry, Alchemy and Necromancy Department of the International Secret Society deemed it wise that their director oversee the matter related to a well-known sociopathic murderer on the loose. Given that Hogwarts is his known destination, I believe that Lady DuLac thought it appropriate that she be stationed her to capture him."

"Of course, of course," laughed Dumbledore waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal. "I did not mean to question the Lady's authority. Surely, we should follow the lead of an international organization. I was merely wondering whether or not there had been progress on the case. Surely, as one of her confidantes," Dumbledore paused suggestively, "you would have the first information on the progress with Black. I would hate to have Dementors lingering about for longer than neccessary.

 _Albus is tired of his lack of control in this situation and is attempting to cite Cressida's lack of suitability and progress for any troubles with the Dementors,_ Severus thought. He almost lashed out in frustration. He, however, responded, "I don't know what you are insinuating, Albus. Cressida and I are old friends, that is true, but our relationship is merely collegiate in nature. I have no doubt that she will inform all relevant parties if and when new information leading to Black's capture arises."

Dumbledore had the decency to look abashed for a second before smiling at Severus and answering, "Wonderful. I should hate to get in the way of investigations especially considering what Sirius did to poor James and Lily. Peter, too, of course. However, we must remember to protect Mr. Potter against Sirius' threats after all, it would be in poor taste considering the memory of..."

"Enough!" Snarled Severus. He knew that Albus would bring up Lily. He always managed to when he felt that Severus was not dutifully reporting to him. Merlin! Even the Dark Lord back in the day did not nearly infuriate him as much as Albus did at times. "I will let you know if anything enlightening arises in the hunt for Black. Although, I wonder if he would be causing as much trouble now if he had been expelled when he first displayed his homicidal tendencies. An incident involving the deliberate luring of a student to a werewolf transformation comes to mind." Severus could not resist the barb. He knew that Albus, as manipulative as he was at times, also suffered from guilt due to his past decisions.

True to his expectations, the twinkle was gone from Albus' eyes and replaced with tiredness. "Yes well, there are many things that could have been done differently in the past." He looked purposely at Severus' left arm. "However, as much as we wish things were different, we are left in our present predicament. Thank you for inviting me for tea, Severus, but I believe that it has gotten very late."

"Good night, Headmaster." He could not bring himself to call Albus by his first name as he usually did, not tonight.

Dumbledore disappeared into the green flames of the Floo.

Severus attempted to begin grading the essays when he had a sudden flashback to Lily's body lying prone on the floor of the nursery in Godric's Hollow. He rubbed his temples as his emotions threatened to overwhelm him, taking calming breaths and attempting to clear his mind. He laughed morosely and wondered, not for the first time, whether he was losing his mind or whether the world was really out to get him. Sirius Black's escape, Lupin's appointment, and Cressida's appointment to Hogwarts brought back unwelcome ghosts of the past.

 _After confronting Albus about his failure to protect the Potters, namely Lily, Severus had spent a week in a depression. He did not eat or sleep but researched night and day about ways to communicate with the dead. After that search yielded no results, he became angry, nearly destroying everything in his house. In one of his furious phases, he remembered that Cressida knew where Lily had been hiding and probably knew that Lily had been in danger due to a pendant she wore which alerted her. She could have apparated Lily and the boy to safety. In his rage, he had stormed to the headquarters of W.A.N.D., fully expecting to be turned away but intent on causing as much destruction and disruption as possible to get Cressida's attention. She hadn't even attempted to contact him after Lily's death. He was surprised, therefore, on announcing his name to the reception on being ushered by professional but obviously nervous agents to a hospital below the base. He had visited Cressida in the labs to offer his knowledge of potions to a young lab technician, Charlotte, who had taken a fancy to Cressida despite her obliviousness at the technician's attempts to gain her attention. However, he had never explored other areas of the building._

 _This surprise was nothing compared to the horror that he felt upon seeing Cressida. She was lying in a hospital bed with all sorts of tubes, going into her body. There were several other wounded agents in other beds but it seemed that she was the most impacted by whatever had happened. Charlotte stood by her bed, frantically checking different charts and monitoring her vitals. She looked up and upon, noticing his approach, ran up to Severus. "Thank god, you're here! We sent several letters and I would have sent a wizard or witch from our department to find you but as you can see, they are all injured or dead and we haven't been able to heal them properly. We don't know how to treat magical injuries without, well, magic. " Charlotte's rambling revealed her obvious lack of sleep._

 _Severus grimaced as he remembered that he had set a repelling spell on all owls attempting to reach him and barely managed to rasp out, "What happened?" when he noticed the state of Cressida's injuries. There were severe burns that covered her neck and seemed to extend over her entire upper chest. Her blankets were pulled back as it appeared that the medical staff was inspecting a festering wound on her thigh. Severus saw what appeared to be a cursed stab wound, the bloody laceration looked infected and dark purple veins spread from the injury._

 _"They were attacked on Halloween," explained Charlotte. "By a group of...um..what were they called...Death Eaters...I think. Ambushed, when it was reported that there was going to be attacks in London. They managed to incapacitate and capture most of them despite sustaining severe injuries. Cressie's got the worst of it, though. One of them, I think...Lestrange? Yes, that's her name, threw a dagger at her at the last minute. I don't know about the burns, though, they seemed to be caused by this necklace. I had to surgically remove a pendant from the burnt flesh...it's not good. Before Cressie became completely unconscious, she said, 'Get Severus." Thank god, I knew who you were...We had to give her anesthesia for the pain... I'm hoping you know what to do." The young woman bit her lip nervously._

 _Severus swallowed hard. "I...I" He stammered. "L-Let me see what I can do."_

 _The next few weeks took Severus' mind off his misery. The burns were easy enough to heal and after the administration of a few different potions, the scars had disappeared entirely. Bellatrix's dagger, however, was a different matter. Fortunately, the dagger had been confiscated for further investigation by the Muggle agents that had arrived on scene. Severus was therefore, able to examine it. Unfortunately, before they were able to take Bellatrix into custody for interrogation, ministry aurors had arrived on scene and claimed credit for the capture of said deatheater, her husband, and Barty Crouch Jr. They would not remand custody to the department, especially given that all wizards/witches were incapacitated at the time. After consulting his numerous dark arts resources and performing countless spells on the dagger, Severus determined that it had been enchanted with a kind of stay in place curse. In most instances, it would render the person at the receiving end of the curse to be unable to utilize any means of magical transport. In the rare cases that it had been performed on muggles, it made them afraid to leave their homes. However, it appeared that Bellatrix had tampered with the dagger prior to its usage and had added numerous other painful curses, including an organ failure curse (the muggle doctors were just barely able to stop the internal bleeding) as well as a blood poisoning curse. Somehow and quite fortunately, the plethora of curses had weakened all the other curses (enchanted objects tended to like being single-purpose) and Severus was able to develop a counter-curse. Cressida still accidentally splinched herself slightly every once in a while at the site of the wound and would often jokingly blame Severus for not doing the job right. He had, however, saved her life, which only made up for one of the numerous occasions in which she had saved his._


	5. Chapter 5

Harry awoke with a groan. It was 6am on Saturday morning and Wood had been adamant that the entire Gryffindor team meet on the pitch at 6:30 sharp to begin practice. Wood had been running the team ragged with laps and all manner of exercises. As it was his last year at Hogwarts, Wood seemed intent on winning the Quidditch cup. Harry had been caught up in the captain's enthusiasm and determination at first but after leaving practices winded, cold, bruised, and sore, he was sure that Wood's obsession with the cup was bordering on mania. Despite this conclusion, Harry still dragged himself out of bed for practice. If anything, flying helped him keep his mind off the revelations and his despondency over being unable to join his friends for the Hogsmeade trip later that day. He quickly dressed and went down to the Great Hall, hoping that there would be some time to grab some toast before practice.

About two hours later, Harry stepped back into the castle. His nose was runny from the cold and his hair was even more messy than usual. Even though he felt slightly ill from Wood having him practice one too many dives, he felt the rush of endorphins and adrenaline all the same and was in a relatively good mood. His arrival at the Gryffindor table to join Ron and Hermione for breakfast, however, soon whittled away the little good humor he had gained. Ron was stuffing his face and telling Hermione about all of the different shops that they would visit in Hogsmeade. When Hermione saw Harry approach, she had initially tried to shush Ron but Harry felt almost more insulted by her pitying glance. Harry listened with envy as Ron spoke about the variety of products at Zonko's and about the butterbeers at Honeydukes. He supposed that, had he grown up a wizard, these small novelties would not have seemed as important as they did now. This brought up feelings of bitterness that he did not quite understand and he chugged his pumpkin juice to hide the scowl that was quickly overcoming his face. Hermione, who seemed a little brighter eyed that she had been the past few weeks, looked over to Harry. "Did Professor Dumbledore say that there was any way that he could give you permission, Harry?" She asked softly.

Harry shook his head. He shrugged and responded, "Professor Dumbledore says that only a guardian of mine could sign it."

Hermione nodded in response. Ron joined the conversation, "Cheer up, mate! I'll bring you back loads of things from Zonko's and from Honeydukes! In any case, there's still the feast tonight."

Harry smiled and thanked him. However, a sudden thought came to mind. He suddenly remembered Lady DuLac and wondered briefly if she would be able to sign his forms. More importantly, he had a few questions about their familial ties. Harry had not confided in Ron and Hermione still, there were still too many missing pieces of information and too much emotional baggage to process. He was unsure of how he would handle their questions. Unfortunately, since the incident in Snape's office, Harry had seen very little of the Lady. She was not often at meals in the Great Hall and when she was in the castle, she always seemed rushing off to check on something. She had not managed much conversation with Harry besides a quick hello and a nod every once in awhile. At one point, she had asked Harry how his classes were going when she spied Crookshanks leaping for Scabbers and chasing him down the hall. Ron and Hermione had immediately started yelling at each other. The Lady stared at Crookshanks and simply stated, "How curious," before walking away in deep thought. In addition, the Lady was often in the company of Professor Snape while patrolling the halls, which made Harry very apprehensive about approaching her. He made a mental note to look for the Lady when the rest of the students had gone off to Hogsmeade.

After he waved Ron and Hermione off, however, Harry felt a new bout of despondency and listlessness. He wandered about the castle and thought briefly of going up to Hagrid's hut. Unfortunately, the man hadn't been in his best spirits since the incident with Buckbeak and Malfoy. Harry cursed Malfoy under his breath and remembered that Malfoy had talked about his father coming up to the castle to speak with Dumbledore. Harry wanted to be there when that happened to explain that Malfoy had been a git. Never mind that he would probably have to explain it a little better than that. He decided to walk up to the owlery to visit Hedwig. As he was climbing up the stairs, he encountered a familiar figure, Professor Lupin. Harry enjoyed Lupin's classes. They were easily his favorite classes of the year and after hearing about the Broggart and the Snape in vulture hat incident, Harry was even more favorably inclined towards his defense professor.

"Hello, Harry." Lupin smiled warmly at him. "You aren't with your classmates today?"

"Hogsmeade," replied Harry, trying very hard, and failing, to hide his disappointment.

"Oh...well then, I've been meaning to ask you to take some tea with me? Would you care to join me this afternoon?" Lupin asked placidly.

Harry shrugged. Having tea with a professor, even one he liked, was not something he was particularly in the mood for but he did not have anything else to do.

Lupin smile seemed to falter for a moment at Harry's noncommittal response but he regained his composure. Harry wondered how adults always seemed to smile through things. "Well then, I'll take that as a yes? I have a grindilow in a tank that you might enjoy seeing."

Harry did perk up at this comment. He had always enjoyed seeing the different creatures in the wizarding world. "Sure," he gave Lupin a tentative smile which caused the older man to brighten considerably.

Lupin's office was as shabby as the man's robe. It was dark and many of the books that the professor owned seemed to be well-used. He placed two chipped teacups on his desk and waved his wand at a teapot.

"I only have teabags," began the man conversationally, "however, I've heard that you may have had enough of tea leaves."

"You've heard?" Harry was startled from his observations of the grindylow making faces at him.

"Word travels quickly in this castle, though I picked up this tidbit from Professor McGonagall." Lupin poured tea into the two cups and passed one to Harry. Harry pretended not to notice that the man had not offered him cream or sugar. He had prepared tea under Aunt Petunia's exacting standards for years and was sorely tempted to wipe down the hot water that lingered on the spout of the teapot.

"So," started Lupin, "Apart from Divination where you have been subject to the Grim, do you have any concerns about your classes this term? I know that you've missed our class with the Broggart..."

Harry did have a question pertaining to that incident, "Er, yes, actually sir.."

"You don't need to call me sir, Harry, I've never been one to stand on formality." Harry met Lupin's blue eyes for a moment before continuing.

"Right, s-I'mean, right, er," Harry had never been particularly good at making small talk with adults save for Professor Dumbledore. "I was wondering, why did you ask Lady DuLac to supervise that lesson...I mean...I heard from Ron and Hermione that it wasn't that hard and Neville was able to beat it..." Harry wondered if the man would be cross with him for asking questions.

Lupin furrowed his brow slightly and seemed to carefully consider his next words. "Well, Harry, to be perfectly, honest. It was because I expected your broggart to be Voldermort."

Harry started, mostly because he did not know anyone else who called Voldermort by his name apart from Dumbledore.

Lupin took this as Harry being affronted. "It wasn't that I did not expect that you wouldn't be able to handle it, Harry, I had just thought it wise to have some precautions in case we had Voldermort suddenly materialize in the staff room. I brought up these concerns to the headmaster and he suggested that Lady DuLac would know how to best handle a group of panicked students."

Harry accepted this answer and nodded.

Lupin continued, "I must say, Harry, you're doing incredibly well in my classes. You seem to have a knack for handling dark creatures, not unlike your father." The graying professors eyes grew bright with this statement.

"You..knew my dad?" asked Harry. He was excited by the prospect of someone being able to tell him more about his parents.

"I did, indeed, in fact, he was one of my very good friends."

Harry felt a surge of excitement and had a million questions on the tip of his tongue when there was a sharp knock on Lupin's door. Harry's good mood instantly vanished when he saw Snape enter with a steaming goblet of some kind of potion that he handed to Lupin.

"Thank you, Severus." Professor Lupin smiled at the potions professor.

"You should take this right away, Lupin," answered Snape, scowling. He seemed to want to say something else but looked at Harry and narrowed his eyes.

"Mr. Potter was just marveling at my newest acquisition, the grindylow."

Snape nodded but did not seem to be listening. "I made a whole cauldron in case you needed more," He stated tersely as he turned to Lupin.

There was a light rap on the doorframe of the office. Harry felt frustrated that his questioning of Lupin was interrupted. Lady DuLac appeared in the doorway. "There you are, Severus! I was just meaning to ask about the patrol schedule for the feast tonight," she said as she entered in the room. She briefly looked at the occupants and smiled at Harry. "Harry, good to see you! I noticed that you weren't amongst the students who went into Hogsmeade." The last sentence was spoken more of as a question. Harry suddenly remembered why he had wanted to speak with the Lady earlier. "Er...my guard-my uncle didn't sign my form," he mumbled and looked at the ground. He paused and then asked, "But, I was wondering, er...if you...if you were my relative whether you could..." He trailed off, unsure of how he had wanted to ask the question.

Lady DuLac looked at Harry. "You are wondering whether I could do what, Harry?"

Snape raised his eyebrow at this and continued to scrutinize Harry like he was some kind of repulsive potions ingredient. He sneered and stated, "And why would Mr. Potter even need to go into Hogsmeade? For a handful of tricks and candy? Really, Mr. Potter, your disappointment can be nothing to the fact that-"

Lupin interjected at this point, "Come now, Severus, surely you remember how fun Hogsmeade was when we were children." Harry had listened to the beginning of Snape's tirade with a mixture of anger and shame. He knew that it did not make sense for him to venture out of Hogwarts with Sirius Black on the loose but this only served to make him angrier. Why couldn't he have a normal childhood? With guardians who cared about him? Clearly, there were at least two other people in the room who had the pleasure of knowing his parents. Harry barely remembered them. He was about to yell back at professor Snape when Lady DuLac broke in, "Really, Severus!" She looked exasperatedly at Snape.

However, Snape was not to be deterred. He turned furiously towards, Lupin, His lank hair hitting his cheeks. "Of course you would sanction foolhardiness Lupin! When has anything sensible ever crossed your beast-like mind?! Or perhaps, you want Mr. Potter lured out of the castle! How very convenient that the year that Black breaks loose, you happen to talk to the Headmaster about finding a new post!"

Lupin looked hurt by this accusation. "I would never endanger, Harry! However, unlike you Severus, I do have a sense of what boys his age-"

Severus sneered disdainfully, "The old 'boys will be boys' adage," his voice was dangerous and low. "So typical of you Lupin to fall back into that. Especially considering YOUR background, I-"

"Enough!" Lady DuLac cut in sharply. "Severus, I suppose I will meet you in your office later. We do need to discuss the patrols and since YOU are an ADULT and a PROFESSOR, I expect you find a way to be GRACIOUS about it. I need to speak with PROFESSOR Lupin to ask a few questions and I find that it might be a burden on your time to sit through this." She glared at him as if daring him to counter it. He glared mutinously at her.

"Fine, but don't blame me when Black gets ahold of Potter!" he stated sharply as he spun on his heels and exited the room, his robes billowing around him.

Lady DuLac rolled her eyes. "How dramatic..." she muttered.

Harry suddenly found the whole situation hilarious and snorted. Lady DuLac looked at him and offered him a weary smile. "It seems that we missed your question during that rather interesting interchange, Harry. I hope that I will be able to give you a more full answer to it shortly. Would you mind waiting outside while I speak with Professor Lupin for a few moments. It won't take longer than 10 minutes. There's a nice picture down the hallway of a group of witches around a bonfire. If you ask them nicely, they might tell you some interesting gossip about students from the year 1899. Don't ask me why that particular year interests them, but some of the stories are interesting. Your mother showed me that." She winked at Harry.

"Er...ok..." Harry had a burning curiosity about what Lady DuLac wanted to ask Lupin. He walked slowly out of the room and shut the door behind him. He walked away, careful to let his footsteps be heard and then he slightly crept back to the door to try to listen. He was so pre-occupied by this task that he didn't notice a certain darkly-clad potions professor leaning on the opposite wall, until a voice startled him. "It's impolite to be listening to conversations between staff, Potter, or perhaps your relatives did not raise you to know manners..."

Harry spun around abruptly. He scowled at the Professor. He didn't know what came over him in that moment. "No, I wouldn't know Professor! I could act like my Uncle Vernon and bellow at people and order them around! Or maybe, I could be more like my fat pig cousin, Dudley and hit people with a stick! Both my aunt and uncle found that funny! Should I do that?!"

Snape's face turned white with rage. "How dare you speak to me like that?! You insolent, ungrateful-"

"Stop it!" yelled Harry. "Just stop alright! I'm not trying to disrespect you. I never have!" _Well, except for the time that I stole from his potions cupboard and that time that I thought he was going to steal the stone..._ "And if I had," he continued. "It was only because you always find a reason to yell at me and to call me spoiled!"

"How can you not be spoiled?" drawled Snape cooly. "Everyone, everyone in this world tries to protect you, tries to shield you even as you and your foolish friends put yourselves directly in harms way. You act constantly as if you are above the rules. Do you know how ungrateful you are?! The ministry turns a blind eye when you maliciously play a cruel trick on your uncle's sister, blowing her up. Tell me, which nasty Weasley concoction did you use, Potter? Thought it be a big laugh to try it out on hapless muggles, did you?"

"I DID NOT DO IT ON PURPOSE!" yelled Harry. At this point, both Lupin and Lady DuLac had opened the door to see what the commotion was outside. "I don't know how she blew up, alright?! I was angry! WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF SOMEONE CALLED YOUR MUM A BITCH AND YOU WOULDN'T EVEN KNOW WHETHER IT WAS TRUE OR NOT BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T KNOW HER?!"

Snape's lips were thin as he glared at Harry. Lupin and Lady DuLac looked on in shock.

"All I can remember," continued Harry. "All I can remember is her screaming to save me. Apparently it's my worst memory and that...that is the only memory I have of my mum. So you can call me spoiled, you can call me a brat, but never, ever, tell me, that I am ungrateful!" Tears flooded his eyes and he turned and ran down the hall.


	6. Chapter 6

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Harry ran down the corridor. He had no idea where he was going. His only thought was to distance himself as far as possible from what he felt was his most embarrassing moment. The thought that he had revealed so much to Snape was beyond mortifying. Harry was so preoccupied with his flight he did not even pause as he bumped into a very apologetic looking Colin Creevy and irritated Oliver Wood, who yelled that he had been looking for Harry as he passed. Thankfully, the castle was mainly clear of students due to the Hogsmeade visit and Harry soon found himself at his original destination, the owlery. Dejectedly, he brought himself to one of the windows where Hedwig was perched. Taking deep breaths, his lungs aching from his flight, he stared out onto the castle grounds. He had never felt so humiliated. Harry kicked the wall in frustration as he realized that Snape would likely use his words against him in potions class. His cheeks reddened as he imagined Malfoy snickering and later taunting him about being an orphan. Closing his eyes, he could almost hear Malfoy's haughty tone, "Muggle relatives that didn't even teach you any manners? What, Potter, are you going to cry about your mummy?"

Suddenly, he heard a faint pop to his right. Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked up and saw that Lady DuLac had appeared. He wondered briefly about her ability to appear out of nowhere like Dobby. At the moment, however, all he could remember was that both she and Lupin had witnessed the end of his tirade. He looked down at his shoes in shame.

She cleared her throat and appeared to hesitate for a moment. Presently she stated, "I seem to recall that you had a question about Hogsmeade and your permission form."

Harry found a new hole in his well-worn trainers. It was suddenly very fascinating. He shrugged in response.

The Lady didn't say anything for a few seconds. The silence was becoming almost unbearable for Harry. He glanced up at her and noticed that she was staring out of the window with a guarded expression on her face. She took a deep breath as if considering something and finally said, "Rocky Road."

Harry was taken aback and couldn't help but saying, "What?" in response.

The Lady smiled and glanced at him. "That was your mother's favorite ice cream flavor." She looked wistfully out of the window. "She didn't change her mind even after going to Fortescue's or even after the house elves bent over backwards trying to come up with different ice cream flavors after three very mischievous children told them to serve every single ice cream flavor in the world. I wouldn't say that was very kind of us. It made grandmere quite cross." She let out a soft chuckle.

Harry looked up at the Lady briefly and then shifted his gaze to the landscape. He didn't know what to say. He had no idea how he was supposed to respond to adults. Professor Dumbledore had always made it very obvious when he wanted you to laugh with him but he didn't think that what Lady DuLac told him was a joke so he didn't know if he should laugh with her. He tried to picture his mother as a little girl but for some reason, only Ginny Weasley came to mind. Harry shuddered. He didn't want to think of Ginny as his mother. Finally, he spoke softly, "I...I..." He swallowed thickly. "I've never tried it."

"You've never tried Rocky Road?" The Lady asked just as softly.

Harry shook his head in response. The Lady had a soft smile on her face. "Well," she said, "we'll have to rectify that as soon as possible."

Harry's eyes widened and he couldn't help grinning slightly. For some reason, the promise of sweets seemed to fill him with childish joy. He had never really been promised treats before and could only remember feeling disgusted as his aunt Petunia placated Dudley with the promise chocolates, ice cream, and cakes whenever he threw a tantrum. His grin was quickly replaced by a frown. However, Lady DuLac didn't seem to notice. She appeared contemplative as she continued to gaze at the expanse of the grounds.

"Tonight is All Hallow's eve," she stated all of a sudden as she scourgified the window ledge and rested her arms on it. In a soft voice, she continued, "I believe that this means it's the 12th anniversary of the night that your mo-, I mean your parents, died."

Harry had never thought of Halloween that way. The Dursleys certainly never mentioned his parents deaths other than to talk about how they were good for nothing drunks who had died in a car accident. No one at Hogwarts had ever told him about the date, not even Dumbledore. Suddenly, Harry felt ill thinking about how he had enjoyed the Halloween feasts or about all the other times that he had been jealous of Dudley being able to wear costumes. He never remembered his parents on this day and he felt wretched. He felt stupid for not reading about himself in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. Hermione had mentioned that he and his parents were in it. "I didn't know," he mumbled miserably.

The Lady turned to Harry, her eyes softening. "Of course you wouldn't have," she responded. "It seems that you have been left in the dark about a lot of things, and, none of it," she looked meaningfully at Harry, "absolutely none of it, is your fault."

Harry shrugged.

She sighed. "Harry, at some point, I would like to discuss your relatives with you but I believe that the conversation would leave us both rather upset."

Again, Harry shrugged in response.

The Lady seemed to decide to change the subject in reaction to Harry's reticence. "Would you like to light a candle for your parents this year?" She asked kindly.

Harry looked up with her. He felt a mix of emotions. On the one hand, it would be nice to focus his thoughts on his parents and for once, he would feel like he did the right thing. On other hand, he had no idea how to process the myriad of emotions that plagued him whenever he thought too deeply about his parents: his anger, sadness, frustration, and feelings of loneliness were paralyzing. The Lady seemed to notice the range of emotions on his face. "You know," she began awkwardly. She seemed uncharacteristically nervous about what she was about to say. "When Lily, when your mother first passed," she said quickly, "We, that is, Professor Snape and I, we used to light a candle for her." She paused and seemed to gather her courage. "We used to get together up until the fifth anniversary, I think. One of us would bring a carton of rocky road and the other would bring a bag of salt and vinegar crisps. We would light a candle and play the guitar. Stairway to Heaven was the only thing that we could manage, I'm afraid. It's the only thing that we had learned with your mother and we stopped playing after 5th year when her father stopped giving us lessons."

Harry eyes were wide at his information. Snape playing the guitar? Eating crisps? The Lady had to be lying there was no way that Snape would ever be caught dead doing any of those things. Also, why would his mother's death matter to Snape? Were they friends? Harry was very confused.

Harry's confusion must have shown in his expression. The Lady, however, seemed to register it as a reaction to the food choices. She chuckled and explained, "I always thought that the combination of the two snacks was quite unpalatable but they were your mother's favorites. In fact, when she was pregnant with you, I believe that she added pickles to the combination." The Lady scrunched her nose in disgust.

Harry registered all of these details. He was still intrigued about Snape's involvement in all of this. "Why Snape?" He asked.

The Lady looked confused.

Harry took a deep breath, "I mean, I just don't understand why my mum would be friends with him. Everyone says that my mum was really nice, smart, and clever. And Snape, I mean, er, Professor Snape is not nice at all. He only likes Slytherins and everyone says that he's really into the dark arts. Ron reckons that he'll do anything to get the job of defense against the dark arts, and..." Harry felt himself rambling.

The Lady bit her lip with a guilty expression on her face. "Professor Snape is rather harsh at times, well, in general," she conceded. "However, I do think that your mother brought out the best in him. She had the ability to bring out the best people. Her friendship with Professor Snape was rather...complicated so I'm unsurprised that you did not know about it." She paused and looked Harry in the eye. "Harry, the past can be rather difficult for people at times so I think that Professor Snape would appreciate it, if you did not mention anything about what we talked about today."

Harry nodded. He had no idea how he would even begin to talk to Snape about this. He almost snorted as an image of him saying 'Hey Professor, I heard you can play the guitar and even though you're a right git to me most of the time, would you mind telling me about your deeply personal memories about my mum?'

The Lady smiled conspiratorially at Harry. "I trust your discretion, Harry."

Harry nodded.

The Lady straightened her back. "Well," she said briskly, "I believe that we talked about lighting a candle. I think that the view of these grounds seems quite appropriate, especially considering the sunset."

Harry had not noticed that it was getting late. He almost groaned at loud as he remembered that he would have to sit through the feast and talk with Ron and Hermione about their day at Hogsmeade. He wondered whether he could pretend to be sick just so he could contemplate the events of the day.

The Lady conjured a single white candle in the window sill. "I believe that it's a little easier to be present in the world that we live in when we find a way to honor the past." She looked at Harry and took out her wand, motioning for him to do the same.

Harry took out his wand but didn't know what to do. He looked at the Lady with a questioning look.

She explained, "I'm going to teach you a bit of wandless magic. I want you to focus on the memory of your parents and everything that comes with it. When you do that, I find that it's best to transfer all of that energy into an image. In this case, a flame. You'll want to focus all of that emotion into the image of flame and then imagine that flame, lighting the wick of the candle. Does that make sense?"

Harry was nervous but he nodded in response.

"Alright," said the Lady. "We'll do it together, except, I won't light the flame. I'll do something else."

"Um...ok," Harry said, his voice shaking slightly.

"It's alright if you don't light the flame, Harry." Said the Lady. "I have matches, in case. She took some a box of matches from her pockets.

Harry grinned. He turned to the candle and held out his wand. "Like this?" He asked.

"Precisely," responded Lady DuLac. "Just take a few moments to collect your thoughts. When you're ready, just wave your wand and imagine that flame."

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He focused on the moving photograph of his parents dancing in front of a fountain. He let his sadness fill him and wished that he had a chance to know them. He waved his wand and focused on the candle. Tentatively, he opened his eyes. The candle was lit. The Lady had conjured some vines that framed. White lilies sprung from the vines. Harry snuck a peek at the Lady. She looked sad for a moment before she regained a neutral expression on her face. They both stared at the candle for a few minutes before the Lady waved it away. "Well then," she looked at Harry and offered a brief smile. "Shall we go tolerate the rest of the world and their festivities?"

Harry nodded and grinned slightly in response. "Yeah, I guess."

Neither noticed the brief flash of black robes in the doorway.


	7. Chapter 7

_Rest in peace, Alan Rickman. I will remember your perfect Snape drawl, always._

 _Warning: there is a mention of suicide attempts in this chapter._

* * *

Severus Snape was livid. He was incensed by Potter's words. He did not know what galled him more, the utter disrespect that the boy had displayed by yelling at him or about the lies that the no-good muggles had told about Lily. He refused to acknowledge some feelings of shame that had accompanied the realization that Potter's home life might not have been the pampered existence that Severus had imagined would be extended to James Potter's offspring. As the boy ran down the hall, Severus fought the urge to yell after the boy and to, of course, deduct house points, as trivial and meaningless as that action seemed. However, Severus had grown used to years of using the absurd point system that the students cared about to punish hormonal and emotional adolescents for a myriad of real and imagined transgressions to the point that it was almost second nature. Instead, he spun on his heels, determined to pay no mind to Potter's tantrum. As he did so, he came to face to face with a bewildered Lupin and a livid Cressida.

"What?" He barked. He was in no mood to deal with either at the moment.

Cressida's lips were thinned to point that they turned white against her pale skin. She narrowed her eyes at him before asking, "Was that really necessary, Severus? To goad him on like that? Really, could you be more childish?" She rolled her eyes and popped into thin air.

Lupin continued to look confused. However, as he realized that he was the only one left in the hall with a very angry Severus, he sputtered, "Well...erm...thank you for the potion, Severus..." He faltered but appeared to gather his Gryffindor courage and put on a mild expression on his face before adding, "It seems that there is never a dull moment in this castle." He let out an awkward chuckle and ducked back into his office.

Severus continued to glare at the empty space that Lupin had previous occupied. His nostrils flared as he considered his current predicament. He hated his job. The expectation to coddle the angst-ridden brats in addition to trying to instill some kind of knowledge in the dunderheads was too much. He wanted to let Potter stew in whatever imaginary injustice the boy had conjured. At the same time, he could not shake the image of Cressida's disappointed look. There was no point in allowing the boy to continue to spread lies, especially to someone as influential in the wizarding community as Cressida. Heaven forbid Cressida should allow her soft spot for Lily to cloud her judgement of the boy. Severus resolutely ignored the small voice inside his head that stated that he was projecting his hatred of James Potter on his spawn. He let out a long suffering sigh as he turned to follow Potter's path.

Fortunately, this was not too difficult of an endeavor. His cloaks billowed behind him as he menacingly strode up to a nervous looking Colin Creevy, who upon hearing the potions master's inquiry, hesitatingly pointed in the direction of the owlery. Another threat of detention towards Wood to be served during the upcoming Quidditch match allowed the confirmation that Potter had indeed run in that direction. As he climbed the stairs, he expected to hear voices, or at least Potter's sniveling. That word always left a bitter taste in Severus' mouth and for a second, he felt something akin to regret for the mention of the boys guardians. Clearly, they were a touchy subject.

As he rounded the final set of stairs, he peered into the doorway of the owlery. Cressida was staring out the window and the boy's gaze was fixed on his shoes. Neither of them saw him approach. He hesitated and noticed that Cressida was talking. He, however, was unable to hear her. He realized that she must have placed some kind of silencing charm around them. Not wanting to intrude, Severus placed a disillusionment charm on himself and decided to watch events unfold. He could not see their expressions from his vantage point. He leaned against one of the walls of the landing. He was going to wait for Cressida to emerge and thought that he may as well take points from Potter after the conversation was over. The boy had, after all, treated him with disrespect.

Severus saw as Cressida turned slightly and smiled at Potter. He wondered whether he should have been more vigilant about the boy's whereabouts over the last twelve years. Cressida clearly enjoyed Potter's company or at least was making some effort to get to know him. However, these thoughts were quickly put aside as he remembered all the times that Cressida had mentioned that the boy had never responded to any of her letters, cards, or gifts. He had asked Albus once about the boy's mail due to Cressida's inquiries and had received the response that Potter's mail had been well in hand. Therefore, he had assumed that the boy had not learned the proper etiquette of sending thank you notes or replies. He had even thought that since the boy was probably inundated with gifts due to his celebrity status, that the boy had grown entitled. His brief interactions with Draco through maintaining his necessary connection with the Malfoys had taught him that young boys could be entitled prats especially when they were coddled and showered with gifts and affection. James Potter with his mean streak and callous disregard for rules certainly embodied this. As Severus pondered this, he realized that Potter, while defiant and disrespectful, did not act like his father nor as the Malfoy scion did. Both Potter Sr. and Malfoy acted as if they had expected to be fawned over as if they were bored of the attention even as they actively sought it. Even as he yelled at Potter in class, he also noted the boy's careful demeanor and avoidance of his peers' attention. How many times had he witnessed the boy patting down his bangs. Severus had been annoyed by this gesture as he had interpreted it as being synonymous with James Potter mussing up his hair to look windswept, a gesture to seek attention. Severus frowned as he wondered whether boy was self-conscious about his fame in the wizarding world. His scowl deepened as he grew annoyed at spending so much energy thinking about the boy. After all, he spent most of his time trying to make sure that the rascal didn't kill himself with sticking his nose in places it didn't belong. Potter's bushy-haired know-it-all friend, whom Severus suspected was behind the curious inquiries and forays, and Potter's pig-headed sidekick did not help matters. While the Weasleys, in general, annoyed Severus with their resolute views on good and evil, it was the youngest boy who incited Severus' rage. The twins were terrible with their incessant pranks but even Severus had to grudgingly admit the genius in their methods and their potion marks, when they were not too busy experimenting, were rather decent at times. He usually ignored the groveling prat headboy whose brown-nosing grated on Severus' nerves. The two oldest were rather exemplary and were polite enough. Severus briefly wondered if having the twins had negatively impacted Molly Weasley's parenting. The youngest boy was a stubborn, lazy, and stupid fool. His essays were blatant copies of Grangers and yet, were riddled with spelling mistakes. How anyone could make spelling mistakes while copying another person's work baffled Severus. He grudgingly admitted that Potter, at least, paraphrased and attempted to understand Granger's thoughts. While the boy's handwriting was abysmal and his metaphors worse, the boy at least attempted his work.

Severus was interrupted from his tangential thinking of the Weasleys and Potter's potions marks when he noticed that Cressida had conjured a candle on the window ledge of the owlery. He cursed under his breath as the sharp reminder of his greatest mistake had come into view. Of course, he knew it was the anniversary of Lily's death. He would never forget the worst day of his life but he usually distracted himself with his anger. Today was no different. However, seeing the candle brought back memories of his grief and the reason why Cressida and he had started their ritual.

 _It was October 31, 1982. Cressida was currently in an ISS rehabilitative center. Despite Severus' healing of her wounds, she sustained many injuries and was currently training to get back into the field. Severus had spent the past year in a haze. He had grudgingly taken the position as a potions master at Hogwarts. Albus had not given him much of a choice and Severus felt at home at the castle, despite the constant reminders of Lily. The weekend was terrible. He spent Saturday in a drunken haze to try and drown out the thoughts of Lily. However, drinking had reminded him of his father and Severus felt suddenly crushed by the misery that surrounded his life. His abusive father, his down-trodden mother, his terrible mistakes had all collapsed on him. He felt the need to escape and found himself sitting in a tub of cold water, fully-clothed. He knew that the alcohol had thinned his blood and then closed his eyes and he cast Sectumsempra on himself. He had felt the life draining out of him as he shivered. He remembered blacking out. He was elated for a moment when he woke and fully expected to be beyond the veil until he saw Cressida's livid and worried expression. With a crushing sense of despair, he realized that he was in his bed, the dark canopy mocking him. His wounds were fully healed. Apparently, Cressida had a similar pendant to the one that had burned her when Lily was killed. It informed her when Severus was in mortal danger and allowed her to apparate to his location. She had been angry with him but somehow, the anger was more reassuring that the pity he had expected. She had berated him for what seemed like hours before finally delivering the line that had him curl up in shame. "What a poor way to remember Lily," she had said. "You are alive and she is dead. Your dying is not going to bring her back." Cressida was usually stoic and seeing the tears that glistened in her eyes had broken Severus. He sobbed bitterly into his pillows, too emotionally exhausted to occlude. She had lain a gentle hand on his shoulder and left him to his privacy. After a few hours, Severus had gotten up and walked into his kitchen to find a carton of rocky road sitting next to a bag of crisps on a small table. A candle stood in the middle. Cressida later arrived with three bottles of butterbeer._

 _"This is how I want to remember her." She had stated in a tone that brooked no argument. Severus could only nod._

 _They had lit the candle, and talked for hours about their memories of Lily. The way that they would sneak off to muggle London to see the Who Black Sabbath, Queen, and Led Zeppelin and how Lily was equal parts envious and appalled by Cressida's nose ring when she was 14. The grief was easier to manage._

 _The next year saw Severus standing on the edge of the astronomy tower. Cressida had appeared next to him with the necessary provisions and they had sat on the cold tower with the candle, remembering the first time that they tried cigarettes during their third year. Lily, in an uncharacteristic state of rebellion, had stolen them from her father and persuaded both Cressida and Severus to try them with her on the astronomy tower one night. They had later snuck back into the castle. Lily was caught by the Gryffindor tower by McGonagall who had taken points from Lily and given detention to both Cressida and Severus for sneaking contraband into the castle. Lily had protested this but McGonagall assumed that she was trying to protect her Slytherin friends. It did not help that Severus had stubbornly stated that the cigarettes belonged to him._

 _The following year, Severus took a trip to Muggle London and appeared on the doorstep of Cressida's flat. She was at home with a furiously blushing Charlotte who left very quickly after Severus arrived. Severus and Cressida went to a pub, then a corner store where Severus purchased the ice cream and she bought the crisps. They passed an instrument store where Cressida impulsively decided to buy a guitar, before finally going back to the flat. After a night of several attempts at Stairway to Heaven, Severus spent the night on a conjured mattress on Cressida's floor._

 _Halloween for the next two years occurred in a similar fashion. One year was spent in Severus' quarters and the next in Cressida's London flat which was being emptied in preparation for her new field assignments. The day now only brought a dull ache for Severus and seemed to only make Cressida slightly wistful. He had known, rationally, that Cressida would heal faster than he would, if he ever could, but he appreciated that she shared the remembrance. No one, after all, could remember Lily like they did._

 _The rituals had stopped after that, for no other reason than convenience. Severus no longer felt badly enough to end his life on the day and Cressida was now assigned to lengthy assignments around the world. Her flat now served as a safe house for WAND agents and she was steadily earning her place in the upper ranks of the agency. Her tactical prowess soon allowed her to take a leadership role. She resided at her manor in France during the holidays. Charlotte had moved in with her soon after, preferring to portkey to headquarters over commuting the muggle way from London. Cressida visited Severus occasionally and vice-versa but never with the same kind of intensity that had marked the first few anniversaries of Lily's passing._

Severus was shaken out of his reminiscence when he realize that the small ritual between Potter and Cressida had ended. He turned and fled swiftly and softly down the stairs. He had enough of memories for the day.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry stared at the food on his plate listlessly. In their excitement over recounting Hogsmeade, Ron and Hermione hadn't noticed his preoccupation. Ron piled some colorful candies in front of Harry, explaining the different kinds, sampling a few "to demonstrate" as he spoke. Harry smiled at Ron's thoughtfulness and attempt to include him. Hermione excitedly recounted the different kinds of quills that she saw at Scrivenshafts and the owls at the post office. "I always wondered how owl post worked and we got to see how the mail was sorted!" She rambled in her usual way about delivery systems and owl priorities.

Ron piled food onto his plate as he described butterbeer and blushed redder than his hair when Hermione mentioned the barkeep, Madam Rosmerta. Harry listened half-heartedly to his friends. Part of him, the normal thirteen-year-old part, felt some resentment over the fact that he did not get to go with his friends to enjoy the day at a magical village. However, another part of Harry felt a measure of wistfulness and peace at having been able to remember his mother. No one had ever talked about his mother as she was in life. Harry loved all of the little details that he learned and he desperately wanted to try rocky road ice cream. Dudley hated nuts in his ice cream so Harry's experience, when he was allowed to have ice cream, was limited to Dudley's selections.

Harry snuck a glance up at the staff table. Surprisingly and to his great relief, Snape was nowhere to be found. Harry frowned as he thought about all that he relayed to Snape and grimaced, as he was sure that the nasty potions professor would bring it up in some capacity during their next potions lesson. He was also unsure how to act around the snarky bat now that he knew that Snape had been friends with his mother. Harry knew that Lady DuLac had been tried to provide some context for Snape's behaviors, but the information that he received only served to make him more confused. He did not understand why Snape was so nasty towards him. Harry shook his head. His thoughts had gone down this track before and there was no use in thinking about it. At the end of the day, Snape was still an unfair git.

He noticed, as he continued to look at the table, that Lady DuLac was sitting next to Lupin and was seemingly engaging him in conversation. Lupin looked slightly ill, but Harry knew that he was often ill. He suddenly remembered the potion that Snape had given Lupin. A thought crossed his mind: what if Snape was poisoning Lupin! After all, Snape had always wanted the defense post.

At that precise moment, Hermione noticed Harry's inattention and asked him about his day. Harry briefly considered confiding in his friends about his mother but refrained again. He didn't know why he was being so secretive about his past. He simply was not ready to share the depth of feeling that he had experienced. It felt too private. Instead, he related his suspicions about Snape. Hermione looked thoughtful. Ron looked outraged. "Of course he's poisoning Professor Lupin!" He stated vehemently. "Remember the boggart and Neville's grandmother's clothes. I'm sure that the slimy git wants to get back at Lupin for that! Do you reckon that's why he looks so ill?"

"Honestly, Ronald," began Hermione. "I doubt that Professor Snape would poison another professor in front of a student! He saw you sitting there, right Harry?" Despite her words, she looked slightly unsure.

"Yeah," explained Harry, suddenly doubtful about his own allegations. Ron's explanation had sounded ludicrous. "Lady DuLac was there, too, but she got there after Snape had given Lupin the potion," he added.

"Well then, I'm sure she would have noticed the potion," stated Hermione primly as if it settled the matter. "There is no way that the head of security would have let something like that slide."

"Unless she's part of the plan!" Ron exclaimed, his cheeks red. He appeared irritated by Hermione's earlier dismissal. "She's a Slytherin! She and Snape are thick as thieves. I reckon Dumbledore's being strong-armed into letting her run the place! As if Dumbledore couldn't stop Sirius Black on his own!"

Harry shuddered at the thought. Apparently, Sirius Black was crazy enough to plan to attack Harry at Hogwarts even under Dumbledore's watch. His determination scared Harry and not for the first time, Harry wondered if he could ever truly be safe. It seemed that a new threat lurked every year, despite the presence of one of the greatest wizards of all time.

He was also incensed by Ron's statements about Lady DuLac. "Don't." He said softly. Ron and Hermione looked at him with puzzled expressions. "She was my mum's…" He paused. He wasn't sure if he wanted to disclose his familial tie, not yet anyways. "Er…she knew my mum and she's decent, alright? She told Snape to act like an adult when he started going off on Lupin for saying that I should be allowed to go into Hogsmeade."

Ron looked impressed. "She told Snape to act like an adult?!" He whistled softly. "How did he take that?"

"He stormed out of the room," Harry stated. He did not want to explain what happened after.

Hermione seemed to sense that Harry was hiding something. She looked at him as if he was some kind of rune diagram that she was attempting to decipher. "What was she doing there, in the first place?" She asked after a moment.

"She was looking for Snape…er…something about patrols, I think. Then, she wanted to ask Lupin some questions." Harry explained, relieved that Hermione had chosen this line of questioning.

Hermione seemed to accept this as an answer. "I wonder why she was asking Professor Lupin questions. Maybe he knows about some of the dark arts that Black is using to disguise himself. I've read about some of the confounding charms that you can place on people. I bet that's why people have been spotting him all over the country!" She looked excited about the potential for further research.

Suddenly, several students gasped in surprise. The Great Hall was suddenly filled with murmurs. Neville turned to the group, who had been preoccupied by their conversation. "Lady DuLac just disappeared! She apparated!"

Ron scoffed. "Everyone knows you can't do that inside the castle!"

"Well, she just did!" Neville exclaimed.

"But there are all sorts of enchantments to prevent apparating in the castle," stated Hermione. "I read about it Hogwarts A History."

The Great Hall suddenly went silent when Lady DuLac reappeared. Harry watched as she approached Dumbledore, her mouth set in a thin grim line. She whispered quickly to the Headmaster, who looked shocked by whatever she related. After stealing a glance at Harry as if to confirm his presence in the hall, the Lady disappeared once more.

Dumbledore drew the professors into a huddle as the students began to speculate about what had occurred. Harry noticed Sprout put her hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp while McGonagall looked grim. Flitwick and few others went to entrance points of the hall.

Dumbledore stood up and addressed the hall. "It appears," He waited for the whispers of students to cease.

McGonagall tapped on her goblet, the sound reverberated through the hall, causing the students stop speaking immediately.

"It appears that Sirius Black has been sighted within the castle. He attempted to enter the Gryffindor Tower. We are currently searching the premises for his whereabouts to ensure your safety. Prefects, please account for the students in your house and report to Mr. Weasley and Miss Clearwater." Dumbledore announced calmly. Percy stood up and puffed his chest importantly at this set of instructions. Dumbledore continued, "You will all remain in the hall until the castle has been searched and cleared." He then exited through the doors next to the staff table.

As soon as he left, the hall erupted in noise. The food was cleared off the tables but the students barely noticed as the Halloween decorations popped out of existence. They wildly speculated on how Black had entered the castle. Seamus was convinced that Black had flown into the castle, aided by some members of Falmouth Falcons. Harry overheard a group of Hufflepuffs who believed that Black was impersonating a student at the school. It was actually one of the more reasonable conjectures.

Professors stopped in from time to time to check on the students. Hermione was currently fretting over the fact that she had left some of her schoolbooks in the girls' dormitory. Ron scoffed at this as he mentioned that Hermione's schoolbag was always overflowing. "Why do you need to carry them around with you all the time 'Mione? You can't possibly be attending all of those classes in one day!"

Presently, Dumbledore reappeared. He looked at the hall of students, which grew quiet at his reentry. Harry noticed that the headmaster looked rather weary. Dumbledore put his wand to his throat and stated, "Suffice to say, we are still conducting our search of the castle.. It seems that you have the rare opportunity to spend the night under the stars." He waved his wand and hundreds of purple sleeping bags appeared.

Lady DuLac appeared nearly at the same time as the sleeping bags. She stood next to Dumbledore, pushing one of the bags aside with her foot, a disgusted look crossed her face for a moment before she schooled her expression. Harry was almost relieved to see her. He wondered if it meant that Sirius Black had been caught. He saw her shake her head subtly at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore began to speak. "The prefects will stand guard at the entrances and I am leaving…"

"If I may Headmaster," Lady DuLac interrupted. Dumbledore appeared puzzled for a moment by the interruption but seemed to regain his equanimity and nodded at Lady DuLac. She turned to address the crowd. "Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout will stand guard at the entrances. You will report anything vaguely suspicious to them. This includes suspicious behaviors, new pets, any unexplainable occurrences." She looked apologetically at Professor McGonagall, who stood at the entryway, her expression stony. The Lady continued, "I'm afraid that nothing is above notice at this time. Thank you, Headmaster." With a sharp nod in Dumbledore's direction, she apparated out of sight.

McGonagall ordered the students into their sleeping bags. Harry, Ron, and Hermione grabbed three and brought them into the corner closest to the entrance, their curiosities piqued. They observed as several students approached the beleaguered deputy headmistress. A Ravenclaw first year stated that her recent marks on her potions essay were below acceptable and that she was sure that Sirius Black had switched her work. Pansy Parkinson reported nastily that Daphne Greengrass appeared to be "hanging around Draco too much" and that it was "highly suspicious." Harry grew amused as McGonagall turned away student after student. After the lights were turned out and McGonagall had sharply rebuked one of the last remaining students for bringing an "utterly irrelevant report," she turned to Professor Sprout, who had comforted some of the more distraught students.

Harry caught her distinct burr as she spoke with Sprout. "I don't understand what she is about, ordering us as if she owns the place."

"It's much better than the dementors doing the sweep." Sprout answered softly.

"Well, of course no one wants that," McGonagall answered exasperatedly. "It's just that I feel my time would be better spent searching the castle with Albus and the rest."

"I know you would, dear." Harry pretended to sleep as he noticed Sprout patting McGonagall's arm. The dim light from the corridor outlined their silhouettes. "But you have to admit, this is better than having the prefects guard the hall. Imagine if Sirius Black came across one of them. I believe you pose much more of an obstacle for him, should he try anything. I, for one, feel better being able to comfort the poor dears. Imagine the fright some of them must be feeling."

McGonagall sniffed. "Well, I suppose that part is well thought out," she conceded.

Sprout sighed. "I can't believe what happened to the poor Fat Lady. To be attacked like that. Why, the canvas was in strips! What a dedicated portrait. I hope that Albus finds a nice new frame for her."

Harry heard a faint rustle next to him. He knew that Hermione was also listening to the conversation.

"To be so violent, though," Sprout added. "I knew that he was always a bit of a troublemaker at Hogwarts, but still, I didn't know he had it in him."

"I'm sure Azkaban didn't help. They say that he had gone quite mad when they caught up with him." McGonagall answered gravely.

"Still, to betray his best friend like that. I didn't ever imagine it were possible! Thick as thieves, they were-him and James," Sprout said softly.

Harry had to stifle a gasp. Hermione, unfortunately, did not. McGonagall cleared her throat and announced that everyone should be asleep. The whispers around them quieted momentarily. "Perhaps, Pomona, we should speak of other things when there aren't prying ears?" She said in a low voice. Sprout made a noise of agreement and began describing the new plants that she had acquired over the summer.

Harry's mind was spinning. The day had been full of revelations. Sprout had mentioned that Black had been friends with James. Was it possible that Black had been friends with his father? Hermione appeared to have come to the same conclusion. Unfortunately, he couldn't speak to her without the possibility of McGonagall over hearing their whispering. Being this close to the entrance had its drawbacks. Harry felt an all-too familiar headache beginning and he drifted off into a fitful sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Apologies for the chapter in computer script. I don't know what I did wrong. Hopefully, this works now! Also, apologies for the slow updates. I hit a bit of a writer's block but will now post with some regularity.

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Chapter 9

Severus eyed Lupin with suspicion. He knew that the mangy wolf had something to do with Black's infiltration of the castle. Currently, the graying professor looked on edge and sickly even as he listened to Dumbledore's search instructions. Severus knew that this was partially due to the effect of the upcoming full moon but he willfully ignored that detail. Lupin looked his way with a weary glance and Severus glared back with the full force of his hate. Lupin looked away quickly.

Glowering, Severus turned his attention to the headmaster who was inquiring about which areas were searched. Severus, himself, had checked the astronomy tower, the divination classrooms, and the entire dungeons. He wondered briefly about the hidden passageways and about Filch's knowledge of said entrances. The cantankerous caretaker spent most of his time railing the Weasley twins and took far too much delight in catching students out of bounds. Severus doubted that he paid much attention to expanding his knowledge of the castle. Glancing up at the headmaster, Severus noted that the old wizard looked increasingly grave as each area was cleared and no sign of Black was reported.

He registered a faint pop beside him and turned to glance at Cressida, her expression stoic. He raised one eyebrow in question. She subtly shook her head. No sign of Black then. He imagined that she was frustrated. She had arrived moments after the portrait had been attacked and was unable to find any trace of Black. If her cold stare at the headmaster was any proof, it seemed that Cressida considered Dumbledore to be more of a hindrance than help in her search. Part of Severus almost wanted to laugh at her frustration. It wasn't often that Cressida had to admit continual failure. In fact, almost everyone was certain that Black would have been caught during the first few weeks of the school term with her personally assuming leadership on the case. Her reputation, both in the British wizarding society and the larger international community, was bound to be questioned due to Black's ability to slip through the castle defenses under her watch.

It was nearly 3 AM when Dumbledore had called off the search. Severus stalked down to his dungeon quarters. He let out a weary sigh as he thought about his potions lessons for the upcoming week. Undoubtedly, the students would be sensationalized by the events of Halloween and would be hard pressed to pay attention to anything else.

Severus whipped around quickly as he heard soft footsteps behind him. He relaxed upon seeing Cressida walking towards him. "I though the search was called off?" He asked.

"It was." Cressida answered.

"Any particular reason you would be in this part of a castle, then?"

Cressida smirked. "Does the head of security need any particular reason to be anywhere?"

Severus shrugged.

"If you must know," she stated as she caught up with the professor, "I was simply wondering if an old friend would fancy a nightcap."

"Ah, stealing from my stores now. Has the ancient DuLac line become so impoverished as to need to pilfer from a poor professor?" Severus chuckled.

Cressida smiled, enjoying their game. "Hardly. But since said professor has been gifted, not once but numerous times of the estate's finest vintage of elf-made wine, one might wonder at his miserly ways."

A door materialized in stonewalls of the dungeon as they reached their destination. Severus held his wand to the keyhole and the door swung open to admit their entry. Severus waved his wand again and lights began to flicker in the sconces on the wall. Cressida took a seat in one of his leather armchairs. Severus took out two goblets and a bottle of wine from a cupboard and set them on the low table in front of them before taking a seat himself. He poured wine into the goblets and handed one to Cressida. She nodded in thanks.

"I wanted you to take a look into something for me" Cressida began with no preamble.

Severus raised his eyebrow. "What…did you want me to look at?" He was too tired to come up with a snide comment.

Cressida took out a small jar, containing what seemed to be black fur. "I lifted these from the area in front of the portrait."

"Aren't you a real Sherlock?" Severus asked sarcastically, taking the jar from Cressida's outstretched hand.

"Oh, shove it." Cressida took a sip of her wine.

"Care to explain?" Severus asked.

Cressida looked into her goblet as she gently swirled the contents. "It might have something to do with Black. It might be the fur from some poor student's cat or Mrs. Norris or from any other contraband animal or creature. In any case, it might be helpful for us to know the identity of the creature that it belongs to."

"You think that this has to do with Black?"

Cressida sighed. "Frankly, I'm at my wits end. I must have laid out countless locator spells when I arrived on the scene. He should have been detected. Short of blood magic, I don't know how else to find him. Either he knows some loophole in the castle's magic or we are missing an important piece of the puzzle. I'm looking at all possibilities. He can't have disappeared into thin air. Only I can do that." She smirked.

"And you believe animal fur might give us a clue." Severus was beginning to wonder to what degree Cressida's fatigue was impacting her thinking.

"My dear Watson, once you eliminate the impossible, what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." She answered cryptically as she smiled mockingly at him over her goblet.

Severus scoffed and sipped his wine. They sat in silence for a few moments.

"It most likely will belong to some cat but I will run the necessary tests." He finally answered.

"Thank you." She answered.

Severus waved his wand at his fireplace and the hearth came to life. They both stared at the flames.

"Charlotte wonders if you'll come around during the holidays." Cressida began, conversationally.

"Hm" was Severus' answer.

"She tells me that little Lily has been asking for you. Apparently, you need to finish the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. According to her, Charlotte doesn't do the voices correctly."

"And how is she?"

"Lillian or Charlotte?"

"Both, I'd imagine you wouldn't mention one without the other."

"Charlotte is doing well. Her research seems to be coming along. I have no doubt she has sent you a new list of questions about potion properties."

Severus nodded in response.

"Lillian is growing too fast." Cressida sighed.

"I'd imagine there is some degree of motherly bias in that assessment. I doubt she is growing faster than other children her age unless her accidental magic is behaving oddly." Severus smirked at Cressida.

Cressida laughed softly. "I suppose. I feel that every moment that I'm away, I'm missing something new. Charlotte says that she argued quite philosophically a few nights ago about the merits of having her pudding before her dinner the other night."

"Seems that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Anyways, you can always pop over whenever you feel like it."

"I can but it's not the same. Anyways, this is your official invitation to spend the holidays with us. You have about a month and a half to think up your excuses, none of which we will accept, of course." Cressida drained the rest of her wine and set the goblet on the table.

"Right." Severus answered. Despite the number of times he had visited Cressida and her family, he had never gotten quite accustomed to being wanted for the holidays. Charlotte had already included that he should visit in one of the post-scripts in her letters. Little Lily, as he had dubbed the couple's four-year-old daughter, who had been named for Cressida's late cousin, had also sent along one of her drawings. Though he would never admit it, Severus held a soft spot for the little girl who was the spitting image of her namesake. He had every drawing and picture saved in a little box in his dresser.

"Think on it?" Cressida asked she gathered her robes in a motion to stand. "I know the invitation is early but when I issue it too late, you always think that I'm doing so out of pity. You know that it isn't. I'm telling you ahead of time for selfish reasons. It's so that you cancel all of your plans and stay with us. We could honestly use the help."

"Are your house-elves lagging in their duties?" Severus asked sardonically.

"No, but Charlotte is expecting again. Don't tell her that I told you. It's supposed to be a secret."

"Is she? Congratulations." Severus formally responded. He knew that Charlotte had been trying to conceive for the past two years. While finding a donor in the Muggle world was not particularly difficult, it seemed that Charlotte had been struggling with fertility. Severus knew more than he wanted to from her letters but that was Charlotte's nature. He had thought that Cressida had begun to try or that the couple had given up on a second child, based on the lack of mention in the last few letters.

"Thank you. Anyways, it is a secret, for now but Lillian could use the extra attention."

"I'll see what I can do." Severus responded tiredly.

"It's all I ask."

"It's never all you ask of me."

Cressida laughed. "Good night." She simply stated as she apparated.

Severus continued to stare at the flames in contemplation, before finally drinking the rest of his wine and heading to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Harry stared at his toast. The pumpkin juice that he had forced himself to drink churned in his stomach and threatened to come back up. Hermione looked at him worriedly. "You have to eat something." She finally said. "You'll need your strength."

Harry knew that she was right but the toast in front of him grew colder by the minute. Down the table, Oliver Wood was having similar difficulties with his breakfast and was beginning to look decidedly green. Harry could hear the winds swirling around the castle and even the enchanted ceiling looked dark and foreboding. At a first glance, Fred and George did not seem particularly concerned by the weather as they scarfed down sausages but even Harry could tell that their usual enthusiasm was dampened. Wood had been furious that Slytherin had figured a way out of the match. Malfoy had continued to use his supposedly injured arm as an excuse. As disappointing as it was to not be facing Malfoy in this match, Harry nearly smiled as he remembered Lady DuLac's confrontation with the blond prat.

 _Harry had been waiting in the corridor in front of the potions classroom. The area was filled with a mix of third year Slytherins and Gryffindors. Tensions were high as Malfoy continued to taunt Harry, Hermione, and Ron with his arm injury._

 _"My father is going to make sure that the oaf never teaches again. No one injures a Malfoy and gets away with it. Father is going to talk to the minister, you know." Malfoy said loudly as Parkinson fawned over him. He glanced nastily at Harry and his friends._

 _Harry was about to respond when the door to the classroom swung open and Lady DuLac exited the classroom with Snape following, setting off a new round of whispers amongst the students. Snape, with his robes billowing, ushered the students inside._

 _As the students were filing in, Malfoy addressed the lady. With his chest puffed out proudly, he stated, "My father told me to invite you to our annual holiday celebration. He informs me that all of the important families are invited. In fact, the minister, himself, will be there." He looked around to ensure that everyone overheard his address._

 _The Lady looked at the blond third year with one eyebrow raised. Finally, she stated, "I'm sorry. I believe you have me at a disadvantage. Do I know you?"_

 _Malfoy looked astonished for a moment but quickly schooled his features into a haughty look. "I am Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy estate. My father is Lucius Malfoy, as I'm sure you know." He offered slight bow._

 _The Lady stared at him, her expression inscrutable. Harry enjoyed watching Malfoy begin to fidget. The entire group had paused to witness the exchange. Snape had gone back into the classroom. Harry had glanced up at the professor during the exchange and was surprised to see him rolling his eyes before he exited the scene. Harry didn't know what to make of that gesture._

 _The Lady finally responded. "I see. I have to admit, I am not entirely familiar with the Malfoy name, nor can I claim much acquaintance with your father. Is he on the Wizengamot?"_

 _Malfoy looked at lost for words. "Er…no…but he has friends on it!"_

 _"I see. I suppose that must account for why he is not amongst my circle of acquaintances. Well, the invitation is accepted but I'm afraid that I cannot attend. As you know, the holiday season is filled with numerous obligations for those of… certain circles. I'm surprised that your family is hosting their own event. Most preeminent families usually attend the various international functions held by different governments."_

 _Malfoy's cheeks flushed pink at the not-so-veiled set-down. He seemed to rally his wits, however, and bowed slightly to the Lady. "In any case, even if you can't attend….father hopes that you will support him in his petition against placing students in contact with dangerous creatures." He showed his arm to the lady expectantly._

 _"When did this injury occur, Mr. Malfoy? Just now?"_

 _"No, it happened in our Care of Magical Creatures class. A hippogriff attacked me unprovoked. It was highly irresponsible of a certain…I wouldn't call him a professor…but a certain staff member…"_

 _"And how long ago was this? This morning?"_

 _"Er….no a few weeks ago, ma'am"_

 _"And you have been to the infirmary?"_

 _"Of course!"_

 _"Hm." The Lady looked at Malfoy as if trying to decipher a puzzle. "It is surprising that your arm remains injured. Are you sure that your magic is intact? It should have healed quickly with Madam Pomfrey's excellent skills. Perhaps, you should go again to make sure that she gives you some restorative potions. I believe that in some bloodlines, magic can become quite weak, making most available remedies quite difficult to take…"_

 _Malfoy was bright red at this point. "No! I mean…my arm is almost healed…I don't think it's a problem at all! Good day!" Malfoy fled into the classroom._

 _Lady DuLac smirked and winked Harry before continuing on her way. Harry couldn't help but grin back. Ron was less subtle._

 _"Did she put down Malfoy, eh? I don't know what she was saying but I think she said he was weak!" Ron looked impressed and his voice grew loud with excitement._

 _"10 points for your dawdling, Mr. Weasley." Snape's voice cut through the air. The professor stood in front of the doorway, looking menacing. He barked at the remaining students. "The lot of you better enter the classroom, or I will take 10 points for each second wasted!"_

 _The students all scurried into the classroom._

Harry was shaken out of his pleasant reverie when Wood clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry noticed that the captain's hands were shaking. This made him even more nervous about the upcoming match against Hufflepuff. "Let's go, Potter." His mouth was set in a firm line.

Harry nervously got up from his bench and tried to ignore the wobbling in his knees. He smiled weakly as Ron cheered "Goo' lug mate" through a mouthful of eggs.

Harry couldn't tell whether the roaring in his ears was due to the rain and wind or his nervousness. He could barely see as Wood shook hands with a friendly Diggory. Before he knew, he heard Madam Hooch's whistle over the roaring wind and he took to the air. Harry felt the initial exhilaration that always overtook him when he flew but that feeling of excitement was soon overcome by his blindness. The rain pelted hard against his glasses and he found himself constantly wiping them to no avail. Madam Hooch called a time out after Hufflepuff scored its first goal.

Wood gathered the Gryffindors into a huddle. He seemed determined. "Right," he said as soon as Harry found his way to the group. "This is really bad. We need to end this game quickly before the weather gets worse. They know that too! Potter, what are you doing flying around in circles?"

"I, err…can't see…"

Wood looked flummoxed and outraged.

"Harry!" Hermione's voice rang out from the nearby stands. "Come over here!"

Harry was stunned and stumbled over.

"Give me your glasses!" She stated.

Harry nodded and gave them to her.

" _Impervious!"_ She muttered pointing her wand at his glasses. "Here, try them now." She handed him back his glasses.

Harry tried them and was amazed to find that the rain did not impact his vision.

"Thanks Hermione!"

Wood looked like he could have kissed her. (A/N: Scene borrowed from Prisoner of Azkaban by Rowling. Direct quotes lifted)

Harry rejoined the group. Wood stated, "Right, catch the snitch as quickly as possible Potter!"

They all flew off to rejoin the game.

Harry cheered as he heard Gryffindor score. He looked around the stadium for the snitch. He noticed that above him, Diggory was doing the same.

Looking towards the stands, Harry noticed that Lady DuLac sat in the staff's box next to Snape. She was looking right at him with smile on her face. Harry felt some warmth in the pit of his stomach despite the cold rain drenching his robes. He didn't know why it made him happy that someone was watching him play. However, his face fell as he looked to the right of the staff box. There, in the back of the stands, sat a large black dog. 'The Grim!' thought Harry. He thought it was a trick of the light but as soon as he blinked, he felt a cold, familiar, and very unwelcome feeling overcome him. Harry felt his consciousness fade as he noticed that Dementors had flown into the stadium. His vision started to blacken as he saw a cold rotting arm reaching towards him. He felt his grip on his broom go slack. Harry's head hurt as he suddenly saw a vision of a green light and heard his mother's screams, "No, don't take him! Don't hurt him! Not Harry! Not Harry!"

He heard a high pitched laugh, "Step aside, foolish girl!"

Harry knew he was falling. He regained some consciousness and felt some warmth envelop him as he saw a silvery hawk fly towards the dementors, pushing them back. Harry felt someone's arms around him as he fell. He just wanted to go to sleep. He suddenly felt a tug at his navel and a feeling of being squished really small. He noticed that he was still in midair when he reappeared. He and whoever was holding him were still hurtling towards the ground. Harry felt the pull around his navel again and again. Each time, he noticed that the ground was getting closer and closer and that their speed was not decreasing. Finally, he heard a faint thud, a soft female groan, and a horrible crunching sound. Harry knew that he had not hurt himself. He weakly brought his head up and saw Lady DuLac lying on the ground beside him. He noticed Dumbledore and Snape rushing towards them before he fainted.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Harry awoke in the infirmary. He blinked slowly as he took in the sterile and familiar surroundings. "Harry!" He heard Hermione's voice and held his breath as he felt her throw her arms around him.

"We were so worried!" She said, finally releasing him. "You fell so fast and even though Lady DuLac tried to rescue you, both of you just kept reappearing in air and falling faster and faster!" Her voice broke with emotion.

Ron looked pasty against the hospital surroundings. "We're really sorry, mate." He said grimly.

"Is Lady DuLac alright?" Harry managed to croak out.

Ron and Hermione shared a wary glance. Harry was immediately worried. Hermione started, hesitatingly, "Well, she's alive but both Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey were really worried….they put her in a bed behind those curtains over there and I think they put up a silencing charm."

Harry grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and looked to his left. He noticed that a section of the ward had been divided by curtains. Harry wanted to desperately know what was happening.

"Her leg was bleeding pretty badly," muttered Ron before he was elbowed sharply by Hermione. Harry's worry only increased.

Hermione, catching Harry's preoccupation, tried to distract him. "Well, don't you want to know what happened?"

Ron glared at Hermione and Harry felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "We lost…didn't we?" He asked.

Ron sighed before answering, "Well…no one blames you, really Harry, even Fred and George said they felt really sick when the dementors swooped in…"

"But I bet they didn't fall off their brooms," Harry spat, bitterness lacing his voice. He didn't know why he was getting so emotional over the whole situation. He was feeling embarrassed, ashamed, and angry all at once.

Ron and Hermione were momentarily speechless.

"Harry," Hermione started talking in her most gentle voice. "it was really horrible what happened. I've never seen Dumbledore so angry."

Harry shrugged. He wanted to be alone.

"How much did we lose by?" Harry asked, his hands gripping his covers tightly.

"Diggory caught the snitch as soon as everything started happening," answered Ron. "He tried to call off the match, once he knew what happened but the game was already over when you fainted…sorry mate. I found some of your broom though!" He tried hard to inject some level of cheerfulness in his voice but Harry's insides turned cold as soon as he heard the words, "some of."

"What do you mean?" He asked, his voice low.

Ron gingerly placed the tip of a broom handle on Harry's bed. "Your broom flew into the whomping willow….and…well you know…" His voice trailed off.

Harry stared at the broomstick. Flying was his only escape sometimes. "I think I'm tried now." He said shortly.

Hermione looked stricken but Ron took her by the arm and led her out of the room.

Harry took of his glasses and lay against his pillows. He felt devastated and instantly regretted the loss of company even though he didn't feel like talking. Feeling tired, he shut his eyes, wishing that he could disappear.

He awoke later to find the infirmary dimly lit. Blinking to register his surroundings, Harry noticed Snape striding towards the divide that separated Lady DuLac's bed from the rest of the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey met Snape just as he was about to go behind the curtains.

Harry pretended to sleep as he made out their whispering.

"What is that?" Madam Pomfrey whispered harshly. "I don't understand why I can't just give her some skelegrow."

"Because, _madam,"_ Snape's sharp whisper carried through ward. "This is not an ordinary bone injury. The potion needs to be carefully tailored."

"Does this have to do with the splinching?" Madam Pomfrey sounded curious now.

"It does." Snape said shortly but gravely. "There is an old wound that has never healed and I have to be able to work around it."

"But, surely," began Madam Pomfrey.

"I'm sorry but I believe that my knowledge exceeds yours in this, madam. If you'll excuse me, we have only a narrow window before her injuries get worse." Snape strode briskly past the matron.

Harry had never seen this side of Snape. The harsh professor, with whom he had held a long and bitter feud, seemed different. Snape seemed worried. Harry wondered, not for the first time, at the relationship between him and Lady DuLac. Perhaps they were a couple. Harry grimaced at the thought of being related to Snape.

He opened his eyes a crack and noticed Madam Pomfrey pacing several times. She looked around the ward to ascertain that no one was around. Harry feigned sleep again. Madam Pomfrey then drew the curtains to the side.

"What are you doing?" Snape whispered.

"No one is awake and we could use the extra space," Madam Pomfrey briskly answered. "Now, tell me, what do we need. I'll bring the cart around."

Harry heard Professor Snape sigh. "Very well, can you get essence of ditanny, some rags, and the ingredients to make this poultice." Harry opened his eyes just a crack and could make out Snape's blurry figure appearing to hand something to Madam Pomfrey.

"This is most unusual," harrumphed the matron. "But, I'll get started on it anyways."

"Thank you for your forbearance," Snape's voice was sarcastic.

"Hmfph, " Pomfry huffed as she bustled about the wing.

Harry could make out a figure lying in the bed. In the dim light of the corridor, he saw a deep red stain on the otherwise pristine white sheets and had to stifle a gasp.

Snape's black blur appeared to be hovering intently around the figure in the bed. Harry wondered whether he had his wand out but could not tell from the distance without his glasses. Harry was overcome with a feeling of guilt for Lady DuLac's condition. If only he hadn't fainted and fallen off his broom…

Suddenly, the fireplace in the wing flared green. Harry remembered the floo system. Dumbledore stepped out of the hearth, or at least who Harry assumed was Dumbledore. Harry could only make out a purple blurry figure with a long beard.

"How are they, Severus?" It was Dumbledore.

"The boy is fine." Snape's short response only made Harry feel even more guilt.

"And the Lady?"

"Both Madam Pomfrey and I are working towards healing her injuries."

"Ah, yes. It is unfortunate. What is the nature of the injuries?"

"There are some old wounds that have made things…complicated," answered Snape.

"Should we inform her relations? Does she have any? I've already informed the deputy at WAND and the ministry, of course. Hopefully, this will sway the ministry's decision to place dementors here…"

"I've already sent an owl to her partner." Harry could tell that Snape's patience was wearing dangerously thin, having been the object of the man's ire for the past two and half years. Harry's brain registered the word, "partner," and wondered if Snape was referring to work partner or to a spouse.

Dumbledore tsked as Harry assumed he was examining the Lady. "These injuries are quite severe, Severus…will her family be visiting?"

"They will need to be escorted…as Muggle families are…"

"Muggles…really? I would not have expected it." Harry's curiosity was peaked. He also felt an inexplicable sense of disappointment. Lady DuLac already had family, so perhaps she didn't need to build a relationship with him. Harry felt a sense of abandonment, even though he knew that Lady DuLac had never promised to adopt him or anything of the sort.

"Nonetheless, that is the case. Her partner and child will want to see her. I can escort them when she is in a more stable condition."

"I will leave you to it, then." Harry noticed the purple blur approaching his bed and he shut his eyes. He felt Dumbledore's presence by his bedside. Usually, it gave him some sort of comfort. Harry didn't know why, but he had felt more distant from the headmaster since Madam DuLac's revelation this year. Dumbledore had left him with his relatives and urged him to go back each summer. He must have known the relationship. Harry realized that he was angry at the old wizard.

"Sleep, child," whispered Dumbledore.

Harry felt suddenly weary and drifted off to sleep.

When Harry awoke, he was startled to be staring into bright green eyes, similar in color to his own, though they were much rounder and less almond-shaped.

"Mummy!" cried the owner of the eyes. Harry groaned as the high-pitched noise caused a slight headache. He reached over to find his glasses and put them on. It was then that he noticed a young toddler with bright red hair standing by his bed. "The boy with the strange scar is awake!" yelled the girl. "Uncle Sev! Uncle Sev! The boy is awake!"

Harry was stunned as a lady with a large smile and kind hazel eyes walked over. Her auburn hair was tied up in a sleek ponytail. "Lillian, darling, we mustn't bother him! He's been ill." She gently chastised the little girl whom Harry assumed to be her daughter. She looked at Harry and smiled warmly. "You must be Harry. Cressie…that is, Lady DuLac, told me about you! How are you feeling?"

"Err..fine?" Harry was at loss for words.

"I'm Charlotte, Cressie's partner." The woman stuck out her hand at Harry. "It's very nice to meet you at last."

Harry weakly took her hand and shook it.

"I'm Lillian!" shouted the little girl, giggling. "We're here to visit Maman! She was hurt." The redhead looked sad for a moment but then she visibly brightened. "But she's awake now!"

Harry looked over at the side of the wing where Lady DuLac's bed was. The Lady was sitting propped up against numerous pillows. She was quite pale and looked a little sickly even as the sunlight streamed in through the windows.

"Come over here, love! Leave poor Harry alone. He needs to recover!" Harry heard her voice call over to the little girl. She smiled at Harry. "Alright there, Harry?"

Harry nodded in response. He watched as Lillian bounded over happily towards Lady DuLac. She stopped short of the bed before Lady DuLac reached over, wincing slightly and lifted the little girl into her lap.

For the first time, Harry noticed Snape hovering in the room. "Careful," he warned.

"Am I hurting you, maman?" Lillian sounded worried.

"Not at all little bug! You could never hurt me." Harry watched wistfully as he saw Lady DuLac hug Lillian close to her. He also saw her glare at Snape over her child's head. Snape glared back with challenge.

Charlotte said something. Harry didn't realize that she was talking to him and turned his head towards her. "What?" He blushed.. "Sorry, I meant…I didn't hear what you were saying."

Charlotte's eyes crinkled. "No worries, dear. I was just saying that I was so excited to be finally meeting you! Cressie has been mentioning you for years!"

"Err…she has?" Harry was dumbfounded.

"Oh yes! She was happy to finally meet you, too! You see, she thought she would get custody of you when your parents…" Charlotte trailed off, as she took in Harry's stricken expression. She looked chastened. "I'm sorry, I sometimes get carried away," she apologized. "Anyways, glad to see that you are feeling better." She turned awkwardly and walked towards her family. Harry felt abandoned again. He looked at the family in front of him. They surely weren't traditional but he longed for that kind of closeness. This was how he felt when he was with the Weasleys. He witnessed Lillian giggling as she was tickled by Lady DuLac while Charlotte fretted about whether the 'Cressie' had enough pillows. Harry shifted his gaze to Snape and was surprised by the man's expression. Harry could have sworn that Snape looked almost…wistful…as he also gazed at the little family. Harry couldn't believe his eyes and blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things. As soon as he blinked, however, the professor met his gaze and a familiar sour look replaced his expression. Harry looked away. Feeling suddenly very out of place, he quickly gathered his things and quietly left the infirmary.


End file.
